Switch
by petrovascurls
Summary: Sometimes the magic takes over. Bonnie wakes up to find that Elena is not The Salvatore's center of attention anymore. What would happen if everything didn't revolve around Elena? Consider it a parallel universe where the world has come to it's senses and Bonnie Bennett is the s**t! Rating may increase accordingly depending on where this goes..
1. Chapter 1

**Info: Starts from Season 4 - The Memorial**

_Disclaimer_:_ I own nothing but my thoughts_

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Bonnie stared at the empty mug on the coffee table across from her. It had been there for over two days now. She didn't feel like cleaning it up. What was the point? What was even the point in moving off the couch? Nothing mattered anymore.

She'd lost her powers, or so it seemed anyway. The spirits had turned their back on her once _again_…

Over and over she was bombarded with the sight of her beloved Grams being punished for her foolishness. It wasn't fair.

"It should have been me," she murmured to herself miserably. A single tear slipped down her cheek and she didn't even have the energy to wipe it away.

No one had come to check on her. Two whole days, so far, she had hidden away in her home, and not one of her friends had bothered to show up at the door. Which was very insulting since if it wasn't for her they'd all be dead now. She'd brought _both_ Jeremy and Matt back from the dead. If she hadn't switched up Tyler and Klaus' bodies, the entirety of the bloodline would be screwed. That was how all this mess started in the first place – tapping into dark magic to save her ungrateful friend's asses. Sure, they _said _"thanks" but where were they now? Bonnie was a firm believer that actions spoke louder than words. Maybe that was why she continued to help them all, even after every time she said she was done.

Not even one of them had come to check how she was doing after she watched her own Grandmother perish, no less. Instead they were all running around like headless chickens making sure Elena was okay. Whatever happened to: 'Elena will be an independent woman now she is a badass vampire!'

Yeah, _right_. She should have known it was too good to be true. The poor girl couldn't stand on her own two feet for shit.

Bonnie sat up slowly as her stomach grumbled. She should probably eat for the first time in…

Who knew?

She padded over to the kitchen and poured some cereal into a bowl carelessly, wondering what it would be like to be pandered to every minute of the day like Elena Gilbert. She tried to shake away her bitter feelings; it was _bad_ to think of her best friend in such spiteful ways. But she'd lost so much – maybe not deliberately at Elena's hands – but when it came down to it, if the whole universe didn't centre around Elena, things would be _so_ much different.

She sighed and put the bowl in the kitchen sink after she'd had only a couple mouthfuls. Turns out she wasn't in the mood to eat either.

She flopped back onto the sofa and pulled a blanket over her body. A candle on the coffee table caught her eye. She focussed on it, with every ounce of energy she had left in her. She could feel her power building up, deep within her. If she just pushed a little more the wick would be alight.

She blinked away fearful tears and gave up. She didn't want to risk angering the spirits again. Maybe, somehow, her Grams was okay. Maybe if she never did magic ever again, the spirits would forgive her.

Bonnie shut her eyes tightly and tried to ignore the harrowing images from 48 hours ago which continued to haunt her.

* * *

"_Bonnie…"_

Green orbs surrounded by a fan of long dark lashes fluttered open.

"Bonnie!?"

Bonnie jolted as she realised someone was banging on the front door. She looked around her living room, disorientated.

"Bonnie, open the goddamn door!"

Cautiously, Bonnie rose from the couch. She looked down and realised she was wearing jeans and a shirt. She could have sworn she'd spent the last couple days living in her pj's. She looked in the mirror. Her hair and makeup were perfect.

"That's impossible," she said to her reflection. She hadn't touched a mascara wand in days, she was sure of it.

Suddenly the door swung open and The Salvatore brother's stormed into the house. She eyed them with a look that crossed between distaste and confusion.

"What's going on?" she asked.

Stefan's thick eyebrows flew halfway up his permanently brooding forehead. "Where the hell have you been?"

Bonnie raised an eyebrow. "In my house. What are you doing here? Hang on, _how _are you even here? You're not invited in!?"

Damon rolled his eyes. "Quit being cute. We don't have time to play 20 questions. We have to _go."_

"What are you talking about? Go where?" Bonnie asked. She was beginning to get real annoyed that neither of them were answering any of her questions.

Damon grabbed her arm and dragged her down the hall. She was in a state of so much confusion and shock that she couldn't seem to figure out how to fight back, or throw a snarky comment at him in the least.

"The Memorial," Stefan stated from behind her. They both managed to usher her out of the front door but she stopped at the porch and refused to move until she got answers.

"I don't understand," Bonnie spluttered, "shouldn't you guys be with Elena?"

Damon groaned tiredly, "Give me a break. All freaking week she's been going _on and on _about how she doesn't want to be 'a monster!'" he snorted, releasing Bonnie's arm so he could use his hands to do air quotations. "I don't think she realises every time she says that she's inadvertently insulting me."

Bonnie scoffed, "don't know if it escaped your notice Damon, but you are a monster. Girl has a point."

Damon put a hand over his un-beating heart and faked offence before smirking sarcastically. Bonnie rolled her eyes.

"Well, where is she then?" Bonnie asked again.

Damon shrugged carelessly, "at the church I guess."

Bonnie looked over at Stefan who had been zoning out of the whole conversation. What the hell had gotten into them?

"Stefan? What about you?" she asked.

"Huh?"

She stared at him drolly. "Aren't you supposed to be helping Elena?"

"Yeah, I have been," he replied defensively, "Caroline has taken over for the rest of the day. Seriously she doesn't me to baby sit her 24/7."

Bonnie almost laughed in his face. "That's rich," she murmured.

"What is?" the vampire brothers both asked simultaneously.

Drat. She forgot they had vampire hearing.

"Nothing," she said quickly as she scuttled off the porch.

"Wait," she heard Stefan call after her. He appeared in front of her face with a concerned expression. She could hear Damon's footsteps approaching from behind. "What happened to you? You disappeared for two days…I was in hell worrying about you," Stefan told her anxiously.

Bonnie felt her whole world tilt. Had she entered a parallel universe where people gave a crap about her?

She watched Damon walk past them and over to his car which was parked on the drive.

"I…I just needed some time alone. After what happened when I did that spell to put Tyler back in his own body…"

Stefan quickly pulled her into a tight hug. Okay, not the first time he's been nice to her, no big deal…

"I'm sorry about your Grams, Bonnie. If I was there I never would have let that happen." His voice sounded genuinely caring, which wasn't unusual for Stefan Salvatore. However, when he started stroking her hair tenderly…that's when she nearly fainted in shock.

Damon cleared his throat. Bonnie and Stefan stepped away from each other hastily and made their way over to the car. Bonnie couldn't help but notice the icy glare Damon gave his brother. She tried to brush it of as normal behaviour for the two of them, but something wasn't right. Bonnie had been taught to trust her instincts, and her gut was telling her _something _was seriously wrong here. Something had changed.

She hopped into the back seat whilst Stefan took the passenger and obviously Damon was behind the wheel. She drifted in and out of their conversation as she thought about what the heck was going on here.

She was with the Salvatores and Elena was nowhere to be seen – that screamed suspicious if anything. They didn't seem to be giving a damn about Elena at all right now. In fact, their main priority seemed to be... Bonnie shook her head doubtfully. There was no way they'd _ever_ put anyone other than Elena first.

"…he just straight up walked into the mansion and took a shot at Tyler. Absolute nut job," the blue eyed vampire told his brother.

"I think we should take this seriously, Damon. This Connor guy sounds like a seriously dangerous vampire hunter…"

Bonnie took out her phone from her pocket. She had numerous missed calls and dozens of texts asking her of her whereabouts and if she was okay. Even some from yesterday morning. She had definitely checked her phone yesterday afternoon and she'd had diddly-squat notifications. There were countless messages from Caroline, which wasn't abnormal. However there also were some from Stefan, Jeremy, Matt…and even Damon.

Something was so not right here. Damon only ever texted her if he needed her to do a spell of some sort.

"We're here," she heard Stefan announce.

The three all stepped out of the car. Damon's phone vibrated in his pocket and he groaned as he pulled it out and saw the caller ID. He mouthed Elena to his brother and Bonnie before pressing the green button. "I'm here, I'm here" he said through the line. "Where are you?" Pause. "Not yet…okay." He shoved his phone back in his pocket and rushed over to the boot of his car. Bonnie watched him curiously as he pulled out a dress covered in a plastic white sheet.

"What's going on?" Stefan asked.

"Surprise, surprise, Elena's in trouble," he rolled his eyes. "Be right back," he called over his shoulder.

"Wait," Bonnie called, "I'll come with you."

She needed to see Elena, desperately. At an approximate guess it seemed as if they had somewhat switched places. Well, if the way the Salvatores were acting was anything to go by. She took a step to follow Damon but was pulled back by the other brother.

So this was how it felt to be jammed between a Salvatore sandwich.

She tried to not be weirded out over the fact that her hand was currently being held by Stefan's, and she tried to not blush as his seawater eyes searched hers. "What are you doing?"

"Elena needs me," she stated, "maybe I can help her."

"I thought you said you had no magic?" Stefan frowned.

Bonnie bit her lip. "I have to try. What can I say, old habits die hard," she joked, "besides, I'm feeling much better now…"

Stefan nodded nobly, "Okay." She could tell he had more to say, something on his mind, but there wasn't time for that right now.

He leaned in slowly to kiss her sweetly on the forehead. Her eyelashes fluttered in astonishment but she couldn't help a grin spread across her face.

And then she remembered who _she_ was, who _he_ was, and where they were. None of this was right. Stefan was Elena's boyfriend. She pinched herself discretely. It hurt. So she wasn't dreaming then.

"Stefan?"

"Yes?"

"Are you in love with Elena?"

It seemed a reasonable question to her. However Stefan's brow creased in confusion, and maybe even worry. "What are you talking about, Bonnie? Of course not. You know I love you."

She nearly choked on her own tongue. "Okay," she stammered. "Are we a…couple?"

Stefan looked at her carefully. Had she hit her head or something? "Yes, Bonnie. What th-"

"I have to go," she interrupted, "I need to speak to Elena. I'll see you later."

She scurried away in what she hoped was the direction Damon had gone in, leaving Stefan dumbfounded and frozen to the spot.

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**Thanks for reading. I was just lying in bed one night and the idea came to me so I wanted to get it out there. It's 10pm right now, so this is probably pretty bad lol. I might decide to develop this sometime and make it better. You never know. I just wanted to get it out so the idea would quit bugging me lol. As a big Bonnie fan I always wonder how episodes would go if she had a lot more involvement. Shit would get done a lot better at least, I'm sure of it.**

**Please leave your thoughts and comments, I would really appreciate them. I am slightly worried that this is a good idea but I didn't do it justice. I don't know. Either way, I hope you enjoyed reading the result of my random TVD brain :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hi everybody. Before I let Chapter 2 commence, I would like to say thank you SO MUCH to everyone who has reviewed, alerted and/or favorited this story! I never expected such a reaction to the first chapter and I am seriously so thankful. I've never had this much feedback on a story before and as cliche as it sounds, I am so humbled. Whenever a notification came through on my phone it put a big geeky smile on my face! So thank you so much, you guys. Thou shalt never doubt the Bennett Brigade! I seriously freaking love you all I hope you all like this second chapter. Bamon shippers, this one is for you.**

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"Damon?! _Damon!" _Bonnie called out helplessly to the walls of the corridor she was pacing down.

Perhaps running off from Stefan wasn't one of her smartest ideas ever. She was beginning to contemplate turning back but suddenly Damon flashed up before her eyes. He stood very close and clouded her vision.

"Looking for someone?" he smirked.

She was surprised he'd cared to come so quick after she'd called out but then again nothing was going as expected today.

"Where's Elena?" she asked bluntly, ignoring his question.

He grinned again before motioning for Bonnie to follow him. She had to practically half run to keep up with his long strides.

"She's in the bathroom," he explained whilst they strutted with purpose down the halls, "says she had a little problem with keeping some blood down," he said under his breath.

She frowned, "how do you mean?"

Damon shrugged, "Stefan's four-legged protein shake was a bust. The juice box is a no-go. She can't even keep _my_ blood down."

Bonnie stopped in her tracks. "She drank from you?"

Damon stopped walking too, a few steps ahead of her. She stared at the back of his head irritably as he was just wasting time now. He finally turned around and stalked back towards her slowly. Bonnie jutted her chin out, holding her head high – she refused to cower under his penetrating gaze.

"Jealous?"

"No," she snapped back immediately, which caused him to chuckle. "Isn't that a bit inappropriate?" she added sceptically. Bonnie didn't know a lot about blood sharing, but it seemed to have caused Klaus, the most evil person she had had the displeasure to meet, to develop some sort of puppy crush on Caroline. So whatever side effects blood sharing entailed couldn't be good (in her opinion anyway).

Again, Damon shrugged. Bonnie rolled her eyes and pushed past him. "…such an ass," she muttered to herself. It appeared even Damon from "this universe" (as Bonnie was now referring it as) was an irresponsible rapscallion too.

"Wrong way, Bon," she heard him call smugly from behind her as she turned left. She sucked her teeth and spun round to go in the opposite direction – and crashed straight into Damon's hard chest.

"Damon!" she squeaked, "get out of my face!"

Lord knew how Elena put up with his shit.

He smirked and turned right. She followed him reluctantly and tried to refrain from grumbling. They continued walking in silence for a minute or so until Damon stopped abruptly in front of Bonnie and she nearly walked into his back. She was sure he was doing it on purpose.

"Oh, you again," Damon drawled sarcastically, "Stalking small town funerals?"

Bonnie peeked around Damon's shoulder to see a tall, dark (and handsome, if she may say so herself) man sitting on the couch. Although, it was creepy to say the least that he was making himself comfortable outside of the girls' bathroom.

The door clicked open suddenly and Elena could be seen peering through a small crack. "Damon, thank God." She all but snatched the dress out of his hands anxiously. Bonnie watched Damon closely whilst Elena made up some excuse for the lurky guy as to why she was changing (something about coffee, Bonnie wasn't really listening). She was trying to figure out if he was still in love with Elena or not by his reactions to her distress.

"Quit staring. It's creepy," Damon said lowly, his head suddenly snapping to the side to look at Bonnie.

She nearly jumped out of her skin as she wasn't aware he was keeping an eye on her. "Pot kettle," she retorted.

At the same time they both noticed Connor rise from the couch as Elena shut the door again swiftly. He made swag of approaching them; his aura commanding and powerful. Damon bristled slightly.

"We have not met," his deep timbre voice hummed. He regarded Bonnie first (at least he's a gentleman, she supposes). "Connor Jordan," he said, holding out his hand.

Bonnie realised quickly that she was intimidated by him, which was strange as she had fought some of the world's most fearsome vampires. She placed her hand into his tentatively and tensed as a wave of visions bombarded her mind. So apparently the spirits were still allowing her that_, _at least.

Her breath caught in her throat and she blinked a few times, but all in all tried to cover it up as much as she could. Although, she wasn't so sure she'd succeeded as Connor was now looking at her suspiciously. Alas, he now turned to Damon, offering his gloved hand.

"Damon," the blue eyed vampire smiled, keeping his hands firmly by his sides, "Germaphobe."

Bonnie rolled her eyes at his rudeness.

"So what brings you to Mystic Falls?" Damon asked casually as he side-glanced precariously at Bonnie. She nodded minutely and it was their way of exchanging information. This man must be the hunter that Stefan and Damon had been talking about in the car. "Bible salesman?"

Bonnie squinted up at Damon, unimpressed with his crappy joke.

Connor laughed without humour. "No, actually I'm here for environmental clean-up. Heard you had a bit of a pollution problem…"

"I was unaware," Damon replied, "I breathe pretty easily."

_He means you, you idiot, _Bonnie thought irritably. Although she knew Damon knew that anyway, the 'playing dumb' act was past cute.

Finally the toilet flushed and Elena emerged from the bathroom, clad in a classy black funeral dress. With her long straight hair draped over her skeletal shoulders, Bonnie had to admit, she looked starved.

"I'm so sorry that took so long…" Elena began.

"No problem," Connor said as Bonnie grabbed Elena's arm and dragged her away, leaving Damon behind. Probably not the best idea but Bonnie had bigger things to worry about than Damon putting his foot in his mouth.

Elena followed Bonnie outside and they stopped under a tree. Bonnie ran a hand through her hair in exasperation; she hadn't planned exactly what she was going to say to Elena.

"Do you think Stefan and Damon are acting…weird, at all, lately?" Bonnie asked apprehensively, struggling to find the right words.

Elena frowned, "what do you mean?"

"Uh…" Bonnie tucked a lock of hair behind her ear as the early autumn wind whipped at it, "well, how are things with you and Stefan?" she counter-questioned.

Elena half laughed awkwardly. It was clear to see she was quite confused. "Same as ever… He's helping me through the transition so we've been talking more than ever before, I guess. He's a nice guy, you're lucky to have him," she reassured.

Bonnie let out a deep breath. So it appeared Elena was brainwashed, too. Suddenly a thought struck Bonnie – how _much _exactly, had changed? "Elena," she began, "this may sound like an odd question, so forgive me…are you a…doppelganger?"

Bonnie was finding it very hard to get her words out.

"..Yes? But you know that?" Elena replied with a rightfully earned confused look on her face.

Bonnie sighed in relief. It wasn't hard to see that the 'doppelgangers curse' truly was a curse and she certainly wouldn't wish it on herself. At least that hadn't changed.

"Look, Bonnie I'm sorry but I don't have time for this…"

"No, no, it's fine," Bonnie nodded vaguely, "go do what you have to do…"

Elena nodded and left for the church – not that Bonnie noticed. She was too wrapped up in her own thoughts. '_What the hell is going on?!' _she asked herself repeatedly. Stefan, along with Elena, seemed to believe they were in some form of 'loving relationship'. Damon was acting…well, same as ever really… but something was definitely _off _about him; he seemed to be more aware of her than he was before. She could never really tell what was going on in his head. '_So, in theory, I've swapped places with Elena…' _Bonnie pondered. But Elena was still _Elena, _a doppelganger vampire, and Bonnie was still _Bonnie, _a witch.

One thing was for certain: Bonnie needed to read up in her Grimoires tonight for something – anything – that could explain this situation. Whatever 'this situation' was…

"How is this even happening?" Bonnie moaned desperately under her breath.

"How is what even happening?"

"Gah!" Bonnie startled. "Jeremy, what are you doing here?"

Her ex stood before her in a crisp white shirt and black tie. Annoyingly, she couldn't help but notice that he actually looked pretty good. Dammit.

He looked at her cautiously. "I'm checking up on you. You looked kinda distressed from where I was standing – is it about what happened the other night?"

_Nice to know you care, _Bonnie thought cynically. Yes, they were making progress but she couldn't shake the nagging memory of how much he hurt her…

…Or was he even her ex anymore? Had she been with Stefan the whole time?

Jeremy sighed wearily when she didn't answer his question. "Look, Bonnie I know you have Stefan now," he said bitterly, "and I was hurt by _what you did_ but I'm ready to be your friend again. I still care about your wellbeing and after I saw you do that spell…"

Bonnie's mouth opened and closed in a goldfish manner as she tried to figure out something to say to Jeremy, who was apparently, yep, still her ex – but not in the way she thought he was.

Did _she _cheat on _Jeremy _with _Stefan _FUCKING _Salvatore?! _Bonnie suddenly felt a wave of guilt even though _she _hadn't technically cheated. Or had she? Bonnie didn't know whether she was somehow responsible or not.

"Thanks Jeremy," she managed to finally reply after she'd picked up her jaw off the floor, "I'm okay, let's just get to the memorial; it'll be starting any minute now."

Jeremy nodded minutely and they both fell into step beside each other as they made their way to the entrance. Bonnie could feel the distinct change in their dynamic – like _they _had completely swapped places – which they had, really. The most awful thing was; she knew _exactly _how he felt.

Just as she was about to follow Jeremy through the doors, a hand slipped into hers and pulled her back. She spun around to see Damon, again.

"What?" she asked immediately.

Damon frowned, "what?"

Bonnie clicked her teeth impatiently. "What do you want?" she elaborated.

He stood up to his full height as an offended look crossed his striking features. "You assume I want something from you?"

Why did he look so concerned?

"Whenever you speak to me it's because you want something," she stated.

He looked truly annoyed now and he grabbed her arm again, almost roughly, and dragged her completely away from the entrance.

"What the heck are you talking about Bonnie?" he asked angrily.

"Nothing," she blurted, "Damon, we're going to be late for the ceremony," she added urgently. She hated being late; it was just embarrassing, especially to a funeral event.

"Forget the ceremony," he said flippantly, "we have more important things to worry about."

"Like what?" Bonnie asked, disgusted, "Do you have _no _respect?!"

Damon raised his eyebrows sarcastically. "Yes, they died, it's very sad," he stated remorselessly, "but did it not occur to you that if we let this Connor guy walk around town, _more _people are going to die? And maybe the ones you and I actually care about?"

Bonnie opened her mouth to argue back but had nothing to say as she realised, in a twisted way, he was right. He was nearly always right about this kind of thing.

"Who knows how far he's going to go to get what he wants," Damon continued.

Bonnie sighed before pulling herself together. "What are you suggesting we do about it?" she asked determinedly.

Damon grinned widely, "there's the Bonnie I know and love," he said with a worrying mischievous glint in his ice blue eyes, "first things first; you'll have to tell me what you saw in your vision..."

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**Thank you for reading - I hope you enjoyed it. :) If you have a minute I would really appreciate you to review your thoughts, hopes, likes, dislikes...you know how it is ;) Thanks again!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello fellow TVD fans. No long intro note necessary (there are a few at the end) just thank you each and every one of you for your follows, favourites, and reviews. They truly mean the world to me and help me immensely. I hope you like this one, see you at the bottom. I'm going to apologise in advance for the cliffhanger. mwahahahaha**

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Bonnie nodded and tried to remember all the information she got from a millisecond of physical contact with the mysterious dark hunter, all whilst Damon's piercing blue eyes stared distractingly into hers. There was definitely something different about the way he was looking at her. "Well, there was about five or so men gathered in a circle around a woman – she was a witch…" Bonnie began.

Damon nodded, urging her to continue.

"I don't understand," Bonnie stammered, "I don't think Connor was in the vision at all..."

Damon blinked and stared into the middle distance, deep in thought, before hitting Bonnie with his gaze again. "Okay…forget about it for now. We'll figure that out later – together."

Damon stopped speaking which was curious because it seemed like he had more to say. But Bonnie's unasked question was answered when Stefan rounded the corner of the building quickly.

"What are you guys doing out here?" he asked immediately, "the ceremony is about to start."

Damon got interested looking at grass which left Bonnie to either tell the truth about their currently none-existent assassination plan or make something up. She made a snap decision to go with neither – instead she grabbed her "boyfriend's" hand and pulled him back up the steps to the church, casting back an almost business-like nod to Damon. He'd figure something out.

Stefan and Bonnie rushed through the large oak doors into the crowded Church. Bonnie looked over the sea of heads to the podium where Mayor Lockwood herself was currently standing. On either side of her, on the stage, were large portraits of the diseased, along with white roses and burning candles. Bonnie's and Stefan's pace slowed considerably as they walked down the aisle and scanned the room simultaneously for a gap in the benches they could squeeze in. Bonnie couldn't help but notice that she and Stefan were quite in sync with each other – but she quickly admonished the thought. In her mind, Stefan still belonged to Elena. On their way down they ambled past Tyler and Caroline.

"What are you doing here, Tyler?" Stefan asked with his usual concerned tone.

"Being sensitive to the community's loss," Tyler retorted back tartly.

Stefan nodded knowingly, his sea green eyes still perusing the room before him. "But with a hunter out to get you?"

Bonnie gave Caroline an apologetic look whilst their boyfriends continued to bicker. She was going to get it in the neck from her best friend for not contacting her for two whole days. Caroline gave her a look back which loosely translated to 'girl-we-are-going-to-be-having-a-talk-soon!'

"Also," Caroline chirped to Stefan, "If he shows his face, I'm gonna kick his ass," she smiled.

Stefan didn't reply but it wasn't hard to tell he was thinking something along the lines of _'yeah, right.'_

Mayor Lockwood began to garble her speech to the crowd so Stefan quickly sunk into a seat, pulling Bonnie in to sit beside him. She stared at their entwined hands uncomfortably; Elena was just a few rows ahead of them, and beside her was Matt and _Jeremy._

She shrunk into her seat miserably. This way of things wasn't so fantastic after all. She felt so overwhelmingly terrible for something _she _consciously hadn't done.

"…I know that April Young wanted to say a few words about her Dad. April? Are you still here honey?"

An awkward silence settled in the large room as everyone turned their heads in various directions, looking for 'April Young'. Bonnie vaguely remembered her as a shy little kid who Elena used to babysit on occasion. She side-eyed Stefan who nodded back at her. Anything in Mystic Falls was creepy until proven otherwise and the two could smell a rat right now. It seemed unlikely that April would skip out on her own father's memorial.

"Where's Damon?" Stefan hissed to her as The Mayor made a plea for someone to come up and say something – anything – about Pastor Young.

"No idea," Bonnie murmured back. She wouldn't be surprised if he'd ditched the whole event completely. She turned her head to look to the back rows to see if the elder Salvatore had snuck in unnoticed but he was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh God, what the hell is she doing now?" she heard Stefan's voice groan quietly.

Bonnie turned back to face the front and narrowly refrained from face palming as she saw Elena staggering up to the podium. Damon chose that moment to enter the room and dip his fingers into the holy water ironically before sliding onto the bench on Bonnie's spare side. She glanced from one brother to the other, suddenly feeling a little claustrophobic sandwiched between the two.

"She doesn't look so good," Damon commented as he saw Elena on the small stage.

Stefan squinted in confusion. His brother was right – but he shouldn't be. Stefan, to his knowledge, had Elena on a safe animal-only diet.

Bonnie noticed Stefan's unknowing expression and gaped at Damon incredulously. "…Have you not told him?" she hissed.

Stefan's eyes yo-yoed between looking at his girlfriend and his brother. "Told me what?"

"Great. Good one Bonnie," Damon murmured sarcastically.

"Either of you wanna let me know what the hell you're talking about?" Stefan growled under his breath.

Bonnie looked at Damon expectantly, eyebrows raised.

Blue eyes looked heavenward for strength before speaking. "Elena's been rejecting all food sources," he deadpanned.

"_What?" _Stefan uttered through gritted teeth.

"You heard," Damon retorted shortly.

"And all this past week you've been allowing me to waste time getting her to feed on animal blood? The fuck Damon?!"

"I was a bit preoccupied looking after _your _girl," Damon jibbed.

Stefan narrowed his eyes. "Well maybe if you weren't deceiving me then I would have been with her instead of Elena."

Damon shrugged, "not my fault I put Bonnie before Elena – unlike you."

Stefan looked ready to rip his brother's head off but Bonnie intervened.

"Guys we don't have time for this," she tried to whisper calmly whilst she inwardly freaked the fuck out. (She wasn't used to being fought over in any capacity). "I think something's wrong with Elena…"

"There's always something wrong with Elena," Damon quipped as all three pairs of eyes looked up at the podium, where Elena was struggling to get her words out. Her mind was suddenly focussed elsewhere.

"Do you smell that?" Caroline whispered to Tyler over on the side of the hall they were sitting.

"…Blood," Tyler stated. The word rolled off his tongue disturbingly easily.

"Nobody move," Damon warned, "Don't turn around – it's a trap."

Bonnie looked at him curiously. Her lack of supersonic hearing was leaving her in the dark. Damon mouthed the word 'blood' to her and she instantly put two and two together and understood what was wrong with Elena. She realised it must be the hunter. He had to be stopped before Elena outted herself - but no one seemed to be doing _anything_. All of the gang seemed to be shocked into submission. She turned her head to look desperately at Stefan. "Get up there and help her!" she pleaded.

Stefan's thick brows furrowed together in confusion – as if Bonnie had just asked him to do something as random as the moonwalk down the aisle. "What are you talking about?"

"What do you _mean _what am I talking about?" Bonnie asked in disbelief, "Get up there and save my friend!"

Stefan blinked as her words processed in his brain. He stood up cautiously and made his way up to Elena.

Bonnie huffed and looked up at Damon, who was also staring at her as if she had just grown another head. "What the hell is up with Stefan?" she whispered, "and…why are you looking at me like that?"

"You…you're different," Damon stated hesitantly.

Bonnie blinked several times; what the hell was that supposed to mean? She had a million questions to ask based on that proclaim, but as Stefan and Elena stepped down from the podium, the gathering of townsfolk were asked to stand and sing a hymn. Bonnie watched Stefan, Elena, Jeremy and Matt closely as she rose to her feet. It was difficult to see through the mass of bodies but she could see Elena shaking uncontrollably through the hold Stefan had on her. It was clear to see the newbie vamp was on the edge of losing it.

"I'm gonna go rip his head off now," Damon announced in reference to the hunter.

Bonnie's head snapped up and she was ready to retort back to him but he was already ahead of her.

"Well I think the risk will be slightly diminished when I…you know…rip his head off."

Apparently he was having a supersonic conversation with his brother.

"You have ten seconds before I go old-fashioned on the new guy," he continued.

Bonnie's worried eyes alternated between Damon and her friends a few rows ahead. Although she was only hearing half a conversation she could work out that Stefan was trying to persuade Damon to not be irrational. _Well, good luck with that._

She knew she had to do something but she felt annoyingly useless without her magic. She made a mental note to get her ass into gear and get her powers back somehow; she hated this constant feeling of helplessness.

"…three, two, one – bye," Damon smiled cynically and made motion to leave the row.

Bonnie was ready to reach out and grab his hand – something that she certainly would rather not do (touch Damon) but desperate times call for desperate measures.

It was unnecessary though, because something made himstop in his tracks. He had a stunned look on his face which made the hairs on Bonnie's neck stand up; not many things shocked Damon Salvatore.

"Damon what's going on?" she asked worriedly.

"Matt's just offered himself up as Elena's lunch," he told her grimly.

Bonnie swallowed the bile that was slowly rising up her oesophagus, "_what?! _Is he freaking crazy?" she whispered loud enough so she could hear herself speak over the singing, "I've got to go and stop them." She tried to push past Damon but he grabbed her waist and held her firmly in place beside him.

"Let go of me Damon," she demanded angrily through clenched teeth.

"No."

"I have to stop this! It isn't right – he can't just-"

"Bonnie if you make any move towards them right now you risk getting shot by Van Helsing up there," he told her forcefully.

She shook her head, "I don't care," she said truthfully, "Elena could _kill _Matt if she feeds on him when she's this hungry – I can't let them take that risk."

She tried to manoeuvre her way out of his strong hold but it was no use. She glared into his intense eyes with rage.

"Well _I _can't let _you _take that risk, Bonnie. I've told you once and I'll tell you again until you get it into your head; if it comes down to either you or any one of your little friends I will gladly sacrifice them. I will always choose you."

She held her breath whilst he gave his miniature speech. She might have found it somehow romantic if she was a fantasiser but she wasn't. She was Bonnie Bennett; she did things her own way and chose to do what she thought was right. In her opinion, none of what Damon had just said was right – at least not in a moral context. Her life was no more important than anyone else's. She wouldn't let her friends die. Elena might put up with that, but she sure as hell wasn't going to.

"I have to stop them," she said icily, "Take. Your. Hands. Off. Me."

Damon grinned (much to her annoyance) and released her. "Gladly. Too bad you're too late," he smirked.

Bonnie snapped her head to look over to where her friends were standing. Elena was removing herself from what would appear to be a very tight hug with Matt. White hot anger burned up inside of her; more than anything in the world she wanted to give Damon the most painful aneurysm he would ever have the misfortune to experience. Damn the spirits.

"I mean it Bonnie," he said, breaking her tangent of wicked thoughts, "you are my first and foremost priority."

To Bonnie that was more of a hindrance than a help; she'd prefer to go through life without Damon breathing down her neck the whole time. Strangely, she found herself longing for the time when he couldn't give less of a crap about her.

"Excuse me," a voice announced, cutting through her musings and the hymns, "I just wanted to say a few words about Pastor Young."

It was Tyler. Bonnie gaped at him – was he bloody suicidal?! She felt the need to share her shock but she was too furious with Damon to even utter a word to him.

Damon sighed. "He's gonna get himself shot," he muttered.

The angel faced vampire's flippant prediction turned out to be right – Tyler wasn't even ten seconds into a speech when out of nowhere a small wooden stake flew through the air and into his chest. He spun with momentum as his heavy body fell to the floor and then mayhem ensued; people rushed to the exits manically as The Scooby Gang tried to push their way through the current of bodies to get to Tyler.

Well, that was, everyone except for Bonnie. She used the commotion to break away from Damon unnoticed. It was a breath of fresh air to not be by his side.

It wasn't like Bonnie to act on impulse. Perhaps it was because she was highly strung right now from being unusually coddled by the Salvatore's. For whatever reason, something inside Bonnie just _snapped_.

She had to get to the hunter. Stefan was right – he was dangerous – but that didn't mean he couldn't be reasoned with. Alaric had turned out to be okay, after all. Maybe Connor was just a lost soul too. Bonnie knew she was being naïve but without hope she had nothing. Still, that didn't stop her from grabbing a security weapon, just in case he was a lunatic after all and he came at her. She ended up blindly reaching for – of all things – a crucifix that was beside the door. It was conveniently made of steel so if she jammed it hard enough into his chest it would go through. She nodded to herself. Now what? Damon had mentioned something about him being 'up there'. She frowned and looked up – thinking she was clutching at straws – until she noticed a red stain on the ceiling, directly above the balcony. Her stomach clenched; she didn't want to think about whose blood that was. She wasn't sure she could handle it. At least now she knew that Connor wasn't innocent – that would soften the blow of guilt she'd get if she managed to take him down.

Bonnie kept reminding herself that that was a worst case scenario. She didn't want to kill him. He was human – or that's what she was assuming anyway. She could give him an aneurism. Screw the spirits. In a life or death situation, she was sure she could push through their shit.

She slipped past more frantic townsfolk as she made her way to the stairway which led up to the balcony. Connor could be long gone by now – but if she was lucky (or unlucky) she could catch him if he was coming down the stairs as she was going up.

She ran up the steps, counting each one in her head to try and calm herself. She was shaking and jittering with adrenaline which was only helping to make her anxious. She briefly realised that what she was doing was a bad idea but she was too high to register the danger. As she reached the top of the stair case, her pace slowed and she panted lightly.

The first thing she saw was the bright red blood – everywhere. It made her mind whirl and Bonnie wasn't a squeamish person by nature. Second, she registered whose blood it was – April's. The poor girl was holding her stomach in pain, and pale tear streaks marked the bronzer on her cheeks. Third, she saw Connor, packing away his equipment remorselessly, not giving a damn about the dying girl beside him. He had his back to Bonnie but he must have heard her laboured breathing. He spun around stiffly.

"We meet again," his deep voice greeted in a monotone.

Bonnie breathed in and out heavily through her nose – she was so angry it was giving her a headache. How _could _he? April wasn't a vampire – she was practically a child! An innocent!

She shifted on her feet as he stared at her. "You stabbed her," Bonnie stated in disgust.

"Collateral damage," he explained shortly, "you'll be next if you don't get out of my way."

"I'm going to give you one chance," she began, "and one chance only. Leave Mystic Falls – or else."

Connor laughed at her. "Or else what? I ain't going nowhere sweetie. Now move, before I make you."

Bonnie narrowed her eyes, making it clear to the hunter that she wasn't going to get out of his way. If he wanted to get out of here, he'd have to get past her.

Everything whirred into slow motion as Connor grinned upon realising her choice. Deep inside of him, he felt a guilty pain at having to take out a seemingly innocent young girl – another one. It was such a shame. But it was all part of the greater good, so he pushed that thought into the abyss. He took one step towards the small girl, giving her one last chance to scram.

She stood there defiantly, glaring at him with determination. Connor shrugged – the girl had now sealed her fate. She would have to be killed.

He took another step.

Bonnie realised now was the time to knock him unconscious with an aneurysm She took a deep breath and tried to tap into the magical part of her conscience. She felt a surge of power rising from within – coming into her body from the air around her and the ground beneath her feet. It made her finger tips tingle and her heart beat accelerate even more. Now all she had to do was release it on him.

_Now, Bonnie_.

Connor continued to take steps towards her, each one getting larger and quicker. He wasn't going down. Bonnie could still feel the power within her – it was dissipating rapidly – she couldn't seem to find the courage to unleash it.

She realised it wasn't going to work.

Now her only option was the crucifix in her shaking right hand but Connor had his own dagger which would surely go into her if he got in arms reach.

She had to run. She was small and fast; she was sure she could get away. The staircase was spiral so it would be harder for him to manoeuvre his body down it in comparison to her.

So she ran. Bonnie dropped the crucifix on the floor; it's weight would only slow her down. She ran away from Connor, away from April, whose pleading eyes would be burned into her memory forever. She could hear Connor's heavy loud steps behind her. She was onto the stairs now, taking them two at a time, praying she wouldn't fall.

_Run, _Bonnie's mind screamed to her, _don't stop. Don't look back – he'll catch you if you do._

Bonnie realised her mistake. No once knew where she was, what she was doing. She cursed to herself, she had done exactly what Elena always did in the other universe. How could she be so reckless?

_Don't think like that. If you get away, they won't have to come and save you. Don't even think. Just RUN._

She was halfway down the stair case now. Bonnie bounded down several more steps and then she was grabbed by the waist and swung around; hitting the narrow wall beside her with a force that knocked the oxygen out of her lungs. She gasped and her head reeled, but she threw her elbow behind her blindly, and it fortunately made contact with the hunter's face.

He grunted in pain and dropped her.

She tried to dive away and under his arms but ran straight into a crucifying punch which made her keel over in agony.

What was her first impression again? _Gentleman_?

Connor's arms clamped around her in a vice grip that hardly allowed breathing space, but then she realised that was the point. Her already empty lungs were becoming more and more deprived and she was beginning to dizzily see white spots. She couldn't even catch her breath to make a whimper so not even one of her vampire friends could hear her. She struggled against his strong arms but it was futile.

_Open your eyes...__Don't pass out..._

"It was a pleasure making your acquaintance Bonnie Bennett," she heard Connor's voice whisper in her ear before her vision clouded over, consumed by blackest ink.

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**aaaaaaand thank you very much for reading - yay you made it to the bottom! :D please leave a review if you liked it or even if you didn't! I love to hear what you guys have to say, even some of your suggestions change the course of the story. Just a few important things:**

**# I need you guys who are reading this to give me your thoughts on something. I was thinking about writing *awkwardly coughs* sex scenes in this if/when the opportunity comes up in the story but I need to know if you are comfortable with that - I don't want to offend anyone. It would mean the story rating would have to be changed to 'M' if I did, so please if anything, just leave a review or a PM if you want that or not.**

**# I'm sorry to say that updates between December - January will be slow. I have some _very _important January exams coming up which I will need to spend most if not all of my time preparing for. If my muse strikes I could get another chapter out, but I'm just letting you guys know, just in case. So sorry in advance for that!**

**Thank you, all of you again for all of your support on this story. I wouldn't be continuing to update if it wasn't for you.**

**xxx**


	4. Chapter 4

**Holy crap, you guys. I know I said updates would be slow (well, this kinda is anyways) but I just HAD to update for y'all. In total I got **_**nearly **_**100 reviews after all three chapters, which is, just…amazing. For starters I've never had so many people interested in a story of mine before and I never imagined such a response to my little idea, I'm going crazy here. I can't thank you all enough, which is why I'm getting this chapter out for you. It's a little short but I figured I owed ya to get it out. Thank you so so much for all your support, I hope you like this chapter and continue to give it. Xx  
P.S. It's about to get even weirder. P.P.S. I'm really apprehensive about this chapter. Sorry if it's crap, but I had to update. I don't know, maybe I'm being over critical.**

**Note: ****I promise next chapter we're moving on from the 'Memorial episode' period. I'm sick of it too, lol. And we'll be seeing more characters. I.e. Klaus & Shane. Should be interesting to see how they act around Bonnie now.**

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Connor began to loosen his grip when the girl finally stopped struggling. She was a strong little thing, he'd give her that. He dropped her body carelessly on the stairs; he had no time to clean her up. No time to even check if she was fully dead. It didn't matter, either way. She got in his way, simple as that. He stepped over her body and continued to run down the stairs.

Bonnie's green eyes shot open. She gasped and sat up quickly, clutching her chest. She took deep breaths in and out until she realised it wasn't necessary; her chest didn't hurt. It didn't feel deprived of oxygen and she didn't feel the need to cough. She inhaled deeply through her nose and frowned. Not even a headache. She rose to her feet on shaking legs and made her way down the stairs, gripping the sides of the walls for support. Not that she needed it; her body didn't feel weak at all. Good as new in fact. The only thing that seemed wrong with her was the aftershock. Oh, and her eyesight.

She blinked hard repeatedly, screwing her eyelids together tightly and then opening them again. Everything was a little too fuzzy for her liking and even the dim, ambiance lamps attached to the walls were orbing brightly, causing her to squint uncomfortably. She put it down to oxygen deprivation.

It subsided only slighty when she reached the bottom of the spiral staircase. She was near the entrance of the church, which was mostly empty now. She looked into the hall to see Tyler, who was still on the floor, with his mom, Elena, and Caroline, gathered around him. Stefan was there too.

"I have to go help Damon," she heard him say.

Huh. Her hearing was a bit off too. His voice echoed a little and sounded slightly muted – as if she were underwater. She shook her head involuntarily – as if that would help.

Stefan began to run down the aisle towards her, heading for the exit doors. She opened her mouth to call out to him but he'd already rushed outside before she could stay anything. Clearly he hadn't noticed her. A first in _this_ vicinity, but she was used to it nonetheless from what she'd experienced most of her life. She shrugged and followed him, despite the fact that the daylight searing through the door window was practically blinding her newly sensitive eyes. She slipped through the heavy door Stefan had already opened, before it slammed shut behind her, and ran down the steps towards him. His head was turning left to right slowly, eyes narrowed.

"Damon?!" he shouted loudly.

"Where did you last see him?" Bonnie asked worriedly, looking around herself.

Stefan's head snapped to the side; he must have heard something. Bonnie followed his line of sight and saw Damon pinned to the floor by Connor, a stake hovering inches away from his chest. _Typical._ Connor looked up and saw Stefan. Giving Damon one last disgusted glare, he shoved the stake into his back pocket and dashed into his car, driving away quickly and burning the asphalt.

Following Stefan, Bonnie ran over to Damon who remained on the floor, clutching his arm in pain. When she looked closely she noticed bullet holes. She sighed. Connor was gonna get it.

Stefan reached down and offered a hand to help his brother up. Damon reached out and grasped at it gratefully – only to have the other hand collide with his face. Bonnie winced involuntarily but neither brother seemed to notice.

Damon fell to the floor again clutching his cheekbone. "What the hell was that for?" he half groaned, half growled.

"You know what," Stefan hissed as Damon staggered to his feet.

Damon chuckled cynically despite the pain. "Let me guess – you're mad I didn't tell you about Elena?"

Stefan narrowed his eyes. "Yeah. You let me run around after _Elena _so you could go after Bonnie. Elena is supposed to be _your _responsibility Damon, not mine."

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Guys, we don't have time for this," she groaned desperately.

Both brothers ignored her. She crossed her arms impatiently.

Damon scoffed, "since when did Elena become _my _responsibility?"

"Oh, I don't know? Since you fucking turned her, maybe?! Since you slept with her multiple times?!" Stefan almost yelled incredulously; the nerve of his brother never failed to amaze him. They were in the middle of the street but thankfully everyone was too caught up in their own business to notice their family quarrel.

"I sleep with a lot of people," Damon pointed out, "and we needed to get rid of Alaric; turning Elena was the only way. I couldn't let her die completely."

"And why's that?" Stefan countered, "Thought you didn't give a crap about her?"

Damon shrugged. "I thought Bonnie would be better off without her best friend dying."

Bonnie looked at Damon sharply, waiting for him to glance at her nervously. He kept his eyes trained on his brother, though. _Coward, _she thought.

Stefan sucked his teeth. "That's the problem, Damon. Bonnie doesn't need you to think about what is or isn't best for her. She can handle herself – not to mention she's _mine._"

Damon leaned in closer to his brother's face threateningly, so their noses were almost touching, and glared into his dark green eyes. Stefan stared back into blue and saw nothing but jealously and maybe a little hurt.

"I do what I want. And Bonnie doesn't _belong _to you. She isn't your property. It ain't the eighteen hundreds anymore, _Stef," _Damon said, his voice dripping with malice.

"Whatever you say, Damon. Just stay away from Bonnie."

Bonnie pursed her lips. "Guys–"

"Or what?" Damon asked menacingly, cocking his head to the side.

Stefan smirked and shrugged. "Well, I won't have to do anything. I'm just saving you from getting hurt, _brother. _You see, Bonnie is with me, whether you like it or not, and she's a _loyal_, moral girl. Some traits I'm sure you don't have nor understand."

Damon gritted his teeth and gave his brother one last glare before stalking off, still clutching his upper arm and abdomen as if it would do anything to help the almost blinding pain. Stefan watched him walk away tensely.

"You didn't have to say that," Bonnie mumbled quietly.

He turned and ran a hand through his caramel brown hair and sighed loudly. She waited for him to say something but he didn't even look her in the eye. Instead, he took out his phone and speed dialled someone. Bonnie tapped her foot on the floor impatiently as he listened intently to the ringing tone. She heard it cut to voicemail.

"_Hi, this is Bonnie. I can't pick up right now so please leave a message!"_

She frowned at the sound of her own familiar cheerful voice. "What are you d–"

"Bonnie where are you? We need to get home. Call me back," he said and hung up.

Bonnie let out a strangled laugh nervously. "Stefan I'm right here." She jumped and waved for good measure. She noticed a tick beginning in Stefan's jaw as he looked around anxiously, not seeming to see her at all. _"Stefan,_" she said loudly.

"_Fuck,_" Stefan hissed, putting his phone in his pocket as the nagging feeling he had in his gut went from small to overwhelming. Bonnie didn't have any powers right now. She was just as defenceless as any of these townsfolk running around. He spun round again and stalked back up the church steps, nostrils flaring as he tried to desperately get a trace of her scent. There were so many people around it was hard to discern one from the other despite the fact he knew Bonnie's smell anywhere.

"Stefan!" Bonnie called again pointlessly as she followed him back into the church. "_Stefan!" _She tried to tug as his sleeve but her hand was repelled from it, similar to two same poles of a magnet. Her steps slowed; she stopped in the doorway and watched Stefan walk down the aisle, towards Caroline and Elena who rushed up to him. "What the hell is going on?" she murmured to herself desperately.

The three vampires met halfway.

"Where are you going?" Stefan asked.

"We need to find April," Elena said, "I can smell the amount of blood she's lost we need to save her."

Stefan nodded absently. To him, April was irrelevant in light of the fact his other half was missing. "Have you seen Bonnie?"

Caroline's head jerked worriedly. "You lost her?"

Stefan nodded. His eye was beginning to twitch anxiously and his stomach was churning from immense worry. Anything could have happened to her. He tried to tell himself she had probably just gone home or was with Matt or Jeremy but this was Mystic Falls. He knew better than to hope for the best.

"Don't panic, we'll find her," Caroline tried to assure him.

"Don't panic?" Stefan laughed nervously and rubbed his face.

Elena and Caroline glanced at each other awkwardly; Stefan looked like he was slowly going crazy.

"Caroline, we have to get to April," Elena whispered urgently.

Blonde curls bobbed up and down as Caroline nodded her head. They left Stefan pacing along the aisle as he rang everyone in his address book so see if anyone had seen his girlfriend.

The two vampire best friends rushed past Bonnie (like the brothers, neither of them noticed her) to the bottom of the staircase that led up to the balcony where April was slowly dying – the same staircase where Connor had attacked Bonnie. Caroline wrinkled her nose suspiciously as they began to ascend. She could smell honey, spice, and coconut scented shampoo.

"STEFAN!" she yelled before super speeding up the stairs.

Bonnie and Stefan's heads jerked simultaneously at the sound of Caroline's voice. Bonnie's hair flew up wildly as Stefan whooshed past her and up the stairs. She blinked a few times before running after him, taking the steps two at a time, following the sounds of her friend's strained voices. She began to squint again as the dim lamps started to orb more intensely and brighter than before, and even as she got closer, the voices got more distant. She shaded her eyes with one hand as she used the other to grip onto the banister to balance herself; the spiral staircase began to make her dizzy.

She finally reached Stefan, Caroline and Elena, halfway up the staircase. The lights were orbing so much now she could hardly see. "Stefan, she's barely got a pulse," she heard Elena's voice say worriedly. Bonnie could hardly make out specific words; they were so muted and washed out.

"No," Stefan muttered, "no, no, no."

"Give her vampire blood," Elena stammered, "Now, Stefan!"

"No," Stefan yelled hoarsely, "Do you not remember what happened last time she had vampire blood?"

Bonnie ducked past Caroline and Elena to see Stefan kneeling beside her own unconscious body. Cold dread washed through her in violent tidal waves and the blood drained from her face, leaving her feeling numb and nautious. Her eyes widened and she would've screamed if she weren't to shocked to make a sound.

"We don't have any other option," Caroline said sharply, "Get out of my way." She bit into her wrist and shoved Stefan off of Bonnie's body.

Bonnie watched as the open wound was pressed against her lips but had to shut her eyes completely when the bright orbing became too intense to handle. She felt herself drifting.

"Bonnie. Open your eyes…" Stefan plead.

His voice was closer and clearer now, right near her ear. Through her eyelids she could tell it was darker; the bright orbing had stopped.

Bonnie felt Stefan's hand stroke her hair tenderly. When his soft fingers brushed against her skin, she gasped, feeling the familiar coldness rush over her: Death.

She didn't know if she _wanted_ to open her eyes.

Because she wasn't sure of where she would wake up.

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**Thank you for reading! Sorry it was pretty short. If you've reached this then it means you're still with me which makes you one of my most favourite people in the whole universe roundabout now. ;)**

**Please please please let me know what you think of this chapter and basically everything so far! It's kinda crazy so I was worried about putting it out but I promise it is going somewhere lol. So let me know what you're thinking! I love to hear all of your speculations ;)**

**My last exam is on Friday 11****th**** so I won't be updating again until after then probably. All my energy is going into understanding quantam mechanics which is a right ball ache as you can imagine. So it would be wonderful if you could take me out of my spiral of misery and leave me your thoughts. They cheer me up so much and make everything worthwhile, as well as motivating me to continue writing. I'm sure I would have given up by now if it weren't for ya'll. I may even answer some of your questions ;)**

**Until next time fellow earthlings. Love you all.**

_I have a TVD tumblr! Please follow_ _me! _bonniewinchester


	5. Chapter 5

**EDIT: The site was having a mare and not updating this even though I posted it and then reposted it and ugh. So whenever this gets out and you read this, sorry for any confusion, because I'm aware that email notifications were sent out and the link wouldn't work.**

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**It's finally here! I'm so sorry it took so long. Yeah, I suck lol. I love you guys for being so patient and thanks again for all of your favs/follows and amazing reviews! You all make my day :) And thanks to everyone who wished me luck with exams, if you had some I hope yours went okay too! Glad they're over :)**

**This chapter has a lot of character opinions so I hope you like that kinda thing. ****You also may recognise a few specific scenes from the show in this one but I changed them, obviously. Cause Bonnie wasn't even in 4x03 *rolls eyes***

** Happy reading :)**

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_Disclaimer: These characters are the creative property of L J Smith and The CW. I don't own The Vampire Diaries – if I did Kol would still be alive and wreaking havoc._

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When Bonnie opened her eyes, she noticed Stefan first. It was hard not to. He engulfed her entire vision and the worry-stricken way he was looking at her, with such care, such _love, _was something she hardly recognised – because she could count the amount of people that had looked at her in this way on one hand alone. She wasn't sure how she felt about that except that it formed a lump in her throat which made breathing even more difficult than it already was.

"Bonnie, I – I'm sorry, I'm so sorry I didn't…"

She looked around bewilderedly as Stefan spurted apologies and tears. She wasn't sure why, seeing as none of this was his fault. Finally she noticed Caroline and Elena hovering in the background – they both looked relieved but something was still keeping them tensed.

Stefan reached out and cupped her face gently with both hands as she looked around like a new born child. "Bonnie? Bonnie look at me, please," he begged.

It felt strange to be trapped in her own body again. Stefan's soft warm hands against her skin zinged the cold, vampiric death-like sensation through her, which she had now grown used to after such a time. She let his hands guide her face to look at his.

"Do you…do you feel…okay?"

She wasn't sure exactly how to answer that question. She almost died (or did die? Again, she wasn't sure) not to mention had what she suspected was an OBE. She certainly felt shaken up, but, "I guess I'm okay."

Stefan, Caroline and Elena's bodies all deflated simultaneously as they sighed in relief.

Stefan pulled her into an almost bone crunching hug and scattered quick kisses along her hairline. "Bonnie, promise me you'll never do that again."

She pursed her lips and nodded.

"Bonnie…"

"I won't. I promise."

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"This isn't working for me," Connor vented as he paced angrily in the dimly lit study. All around him, creepy antiques hung on the wall and trickled from the ceiling, many of them he bet were to do with witchcraft. It made him feel uneasy. "I want to complete the mark, trust me, I do…but-"

"But nothing. You need to grow the mark and Mystic Falls is the best place to do that."

Connor stopped in his tracks and stared at the man who had sent his life spiralling into all kinds of crazy. "I'm all for killing vampires," he said, managing to choke out a half-humoured laugh, "but _people? _Actual innocent _humans?_ I'm a hunter – not a monster."

Atticus Shane sighed wearily. The bothersome hunter was slowly becoming more trouble than he was worth but unfortunately everything was dependent on that goddamn mark. "Collateral damage," he shrugged.

"I killed _two _girls today," Connor continued furiously. He wasn't much for caring about the lives of random folk but sacrificing two young girls for a greater good that he wasn't even sure was so good anyways was where he began to draw lines. "Two _young _mortal girls who had their whole life ahead of them!"

Shane became visibly rigid. "What were their names?"

Connor stared at him with both disgust and confusion. "What does it matter? They're just _collateral damage," _he quoted cynically.

The professor bit the inside of his cheek as his impatience with this man grew. "Just tell me their names," he commanded in an eerily calm voice.

"I don't fucking know," Connor huffed irritably as he began to pace again, "one was the dead Pastor's daughter…"

Shane closed his eyes briefly. She was important to the plan admittedly but not as important as…

"And I didn't know the name of the other. Some black girl who was acting too big for her boots. She saw too much so I had to end her," Connor said tensely. He tried to put across that he didn't give a damn, and did a good job of it, but murdering two young girls in cold blood…it would haunt him for the rest of his life.

Shane's eyes snapped open. "Excuse me?"

"What?" Connor asked, discontinuing his pacing to glare at the professor, who had risen to stand upright from the desk he had been loitering against.

"Please tell me you didn't kill Bonnie Bennett," Shane said lowly with an unmissable threatening undertone to his voice.

Connor raised a dark eyebrow, "Who?"

Shane took a deep breath to seemingly calm himself and suddenly dashed over to his desk. He pulled out one of the draws roughly and rummaged through the cluttered mess, then finally pulled out what he was looking for. He approached Connor again and shoved a photo of a beautiful young girl with her grandmother in front of his face.

"_Tell me _this isn't the girl you killed," Shane almost whispered.

Connor ground his molars down on each other as he stared down at Shane irritably. He wasn't afraid of this scrawny little man. "I told you. If anybody gets in my way, they're dead. She got in my way."

"Are-"Shane shut his eyes in desperate frustration again, "are you _sure _you killed her?"

Connor licked his lips. "I don't know. It was quick and I got out of there before I could check if she was alive or not."

"Okay," Shane breathed, "you can go now."

Connor picked up his rucksack and stormed over to the door. "I'll call you when I kill more vampires," he said over his shoulder.

"Connor," Shane called out, causing the hunter to stop and look back for a moment. "Watch out. I've been tracking Niklaus Mikaelson; if my sources are correct, he's back in town."

Connor scoffed, "excuse me?"

"He's an original hybrid," Shane said, trying to refrain from rolling his eyes at Connor's ignorance, "Very powerful. Very dangerous. Very old. Just…watch out."

Connor nodded slowly before stepping out of the dark office and shutting the door behind him.

* * *

_Two days later…_

Stefan dragged his eyes around the classroom as a sickening nostalgia waved over him. It was their first History lesson since 'Mr Saltzman's' death. He'd never been as close to Alaric as Damon or Elena or Jeremy…

But still. He was a nice man who unfortunately got dealt a crappy set of cards in life.

Now he was just another name on the long list of the people they had lost.

He clenched his jaw and looked to the side. Elena was sitting tensely in her seat beside him, lost in thought, no doubt about her lost substitute guardian. And one seat along from her, sat Bonnie. Her posture was rigid and her bright green eyes intense with…he wasn't sure what exactly.

And Stefan felt there was something unquestionably _wrong _with that. He knew everything there was to know about Bonnie Bennett: her habits; her mood swings; her favourite colour – everything. They were so in sync he was willing to bet they could tell an entire story to each other through eye contact and a series of nods alone. Yet lately…it was as if she was on a different frequency.

To say Stefan was worried about Bonnie would be the understatement of the century. She had been avoiding him none stop ever since the events of the Memorial – which was the worst thing she could have possibly done with no powers and vampire blood pumping through her veins. He took a deep breath and tried to push the memories out of his mind for now – it haunted him to think of what could have happened if they hadn't found her in time. She could have died or become a vampire – he didn't know which was worse. He knew which Bonnie thought was worse, however. Thankfully she managed to make it through the weekend without dying which had become an unlikely feat for the average citizen of Mystic Falls.

He thought that was why she was avoiding him – because he gave her his blood. She had made it crystal clear to him numerous times that she would rather die than risk becoming a vampire. It wasn't just that though, he was sure of it. Over the past year Stefan had grown to know Bonnie better than anyone else (well perhaps Damon might argue otherwise). He growled unconsciously under his breath which earned him a few weird looks from some of his classmates but he ignored them. Bonnie was definitely acting differently. Even in the way she was sitting; the way she held herself; the way she spoke – heck – even the way she was dressing and doing her hair. She was still Bonnie, undoubtedly, complete with the fierce personality and fiery glint to her forest green eyes. However, he couldn't shake the nagging feeling that –

"Morning everyone!" Rebekah announced loudly as she entered the sombre classroom.

"Just like that, I'm no longer feeling sentimental," Elena muttered.

Stefan side-eyed Elena, "It's partially thanks to her you're still alive. Kol was going to kill you and she stopped him so Damon could slip you his blood."

Elena huffed. "Please, Stefan. It's thanks to Damon that I'm alive and she only agreed so she could get into his pants again."

He smirked "do I detect a hint of jealously?"

The long haired brunette blinked furiously. It was true she harboured some feelings for Damon and they had slept together when she was human but it was over now. She understood she only appealed to him because she looked like Katherine – however after the Queen Bitch was released from the tomb and broke baby Damon's heart, apparently he found it difficult to even look at Elena because she reminded him so much of the woman he now hated. _So screw him, I always knew he was a butthead, _she'd thought. But it was getting harder lately – ever since becoming a vampire her hormones had gone haywire and she oftentimes found herself sending lustful gazes his way – not that he noticed. She was thankful for that, in fact. She didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable or even humiliate herself at least. "No," she finally said to Stefan, who appeared unconvinced.

"I'm throwing a little anti-curfew party at my new house," Rebekah continued, "starts fifth period goes till whenever. Spread the word," she schmoozed, handing out colourful posters and invites to passers-by. "You're welcome to join Bonnie, if you're ready to bury the hatchet," she smiled sweetly and let one of the posters flutter onto the witch's desk.

Elena glared at the original whereas Stefan bit the inside of his cheek anxiously.

"Huh?" Bonnie asked with a confused look on her face.

Stefan and Elena exchanged glances. No snarky retort?

Rebekah pouted, equally surprised at Bonnie's civility. "The hatchet, Bennett," she repeated.

Bonnie chanced a look at her two friends who unfortunately didn't give anything away. Back in the old world she'd barely come into contact with Rebekah (fortunately) but who knew what rules applied here? "Um, yeah. Whatever," she replied.

Elena took the opportunity to intervene whilst Rebekah tried to get over her confusion. "New house, huh? Did your brother _finally _kick you out?"

Rebekah's blue eyes slid over to look at Elena reluctantly. She'd never liked Tatia, and she didn't like the first doppelganger, Katherine. Surprise surprise, she didn't like the second doppelganger. Unfortunately it seemed Elijah was eternally whipped by Petrova vagina so apparently they were here to stay. At least she could be thankful that there wouldn't be another doppelganger due to Elena's new immortality – one of the many reasons she convinced Kol to let her be turned. Was she disappointed that Elena would be around for longer now? Sure. But that didn't mean she couldn't put her down with a wooden stake if she crossed a line.

"He didn't kick me out; I left," Rebekah told her bluntly; even just speaking to the doppelganger made her feel like one by one her brain cells were deteriorating.

"So you left the only person on Earth that actually likes you?" Elena persisted.

Rebekah sighed. She really didn't have the time of day to have petty arguments to justify herself to the one-dimensioned twit but she found her mouth moving without her permission. "You owe me your life, _child. _Nik may be annoyed at me for my part in turning you but if it were down to Kol you'd be rotting in the ground right now. I only convinced him otherwise to try and get back onto Bonnie's good side. Don't mistake my debt payback for me valuing your life," Rebekah flipped her straight blonde hair over her shoulder as she sat down before adding: "I could easily end you so I suggest you respect your elders."

Bonnie didn't look up from the exercise book she was pretending to read but her eyes were wide with shock. Rebekah hating Elena wasn't exactly new but their arguments were usually cut short before they got as severe as that just did. Truthfully, she was waiting for Stefan to step in and stick up for Elena, like he should really – even as her _friend_ or a gentleman, at least. After a few long seconds of silence she peeked up at him. Of course he was looking right at her and as their eyes met he smirked. She pursed her lips to hide her own smile and looked back down at the book.

It was all wrong. In the pit of her stomach, guilt sloshed around uncomfortably; she couldn't help but feel like she had literally stolen her best friend's life. It certainly wasn't intentional but that didn't mean it was okay.

* * *

Damon shrugged on his trusty leather jacket as he read the directions to the hunter's house/trailer/vampire-killing-automobile, texted to him by baby Gilbert. According to him and Matt, Connor had been perusing around Mystic High sticking his nose in places it had no business in – including giving Jeremy some weirdo hunter initiation proposal. Not to mention he stole some werewolf venom from Tyler at the hospital. "Seriously need to put this guy down," he mumbled to himself as he made his way out of the front door of the boarding house. He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth as he deliberated whether to call in his partner in crime or not.

She certainly needed the distraction and he took pride in knowing how to put her in a better mood but he was trying to not piss Stefan off today. His thumb hovered over the button to speed dial Bonnie Bennett but after battling with his conscience he shoved his phone into his back pocket. It didn't go unnoticed to him that his humanity was slowly but surely creeping up on him, more and more each day. He shuddered; he was afraid one of these days he was going to become as bad as Stefan. Wimpy and humany and all caring and shit.

His mind wandered into a reverie as he drove. Every day he told himself he didn't care about this crappy town or the people in it and every day it became an even bigger lie. Ever since the day he saw Bonnie Bennett walking around with that godforsaken crystal around her neck. All of the time he'd spent trying to steal it back off her he'd ended up developing some sort of pathetic little crush. At first he could live with himself because it was purely sexual. And who could blame him? He was a man with needs and beautiful little Bonnie fit the bill. Unfortunately Stefan got his foot in the door first so he had to settle with the Katherine look-a-like, which wasn't so bad for a while until he realised how generic she really was.

It wasn't till after the decade dance when he was sold and he may as well have put a sign over his head that stated 'owned by Bonnie Bennett'. The way her petite body felt in his arms and the way she _didn't even blush _under his burning gaze had him hooked – line and sinker. For most girls all he had to do was fucking glance at them to get them to cream their pants. Bonnie? Nothing. Well – not nothing. Her heart rate increased and she smiled a bit – but Damon wanted _more _from her. And that was how this game of cat and mouse truly started.

Was he in love with Bonnie?

It was debatable. His feelings certainly got more intense as time passed. He wasn't quite sure himself. Katherine had once mentioned she believed that true love is not real unless it is returned. Well he wasn't so sure about that but the woman had been around a lot longer than him so who knew really.

He shrugged to himself as he parked his car outside of the woods. He'd take the rest of the way on foot.

* * *

"Are you sure you're okay?" Stefan took Bonnie's hand as they walked down the fluorescent corridors of the school during changeover.

Bonnie inhaled deeply before raising her head and nodding. "For the thousandth time," she managed with a smile, "yes."

Stefan stopped walking which caused her to stop too. "Sorry," he laughed without humour, "I know you don't like it when I coddle you…"

She smiled. It was taking some getting used to but she couldn't say she hated it.

She watched his Adam's apple bob up and down as he swallowed. Being around Stefan more often, she was starting to notice new things that she hadn't seen before. Like how in different lights his eye colour ranged from bluish grey to a deep green. How his jaw line was so well cut it must – _must _– have been shaped by the Gods. How if she blurred her eyes _just a little _he looked like Justin Bieber's older, sexier, brother.

"No," she grinned, "it's fine."

Stefan reached out and gently tucked a stray tendril of hair behind her ear; she admonished herself when her cheeks heated up a little. It was remarkable the different sides to his personality she was seeing as of late. She knew she had to remember to keep her distance though. She valued her friendship with Elena, as well as her integrity. In her opinion, it didn't matter that things were different; they could always change back. And how could she live with herself if something _happened?_

"Okay," Stefan said, "I want you to come round tonight."

Bonnie blinked and flustered noticeably. "Oh, um – what about Rebekah's party?"

He shrugged nonchalantly "We can go if you feel like it. But I'd rather spend time with you," he added with a smirk.

She squirmed inwardly but slapped a grin onto her face. "Sure, okay then."

There were only so times you could turn down your own 'boyfriend' and she'd been ignoring Stefan's persistent calls all weekend. It wasn't without reason – she'd spent the whole time pouring over all the Grimoire's she could get her hands on – although to no avail. She was still clueless as to how she got into this little situation, and the not knowing was really beginning to leave a bad taste in her mouth.

Stefan smiled back and it pained her because he still looked a little sad. She knew he knew something was wrong but it wasn't like she could tell him the truth.

"Good. I'll pick you up around six or seven. I gotta go talk to Jeremy so I'll see you later, okay?"

Bonnie nodded and held her breath when she realised Stefan was leaning in.

His thumb and forefinger came up to clutch her chin gently as he drew her in like a moth to a flame. She couldn't fight him; she was poisoned by his presence, leaving her right state of mind paralysed. Her eyes drifted shut a millisecond before she felt his soft lips against hers.

It lasted all of two seconds but to Bonnie they could have been standing there for two hours. His fresh masculine scent invaded her senses and her lips scorched from the sensation of his moving against hers. Her brain was frazzled; she could _feel _the raw emotion emanating off of Stefan – and she'd never had someone expose such care or love for her before. Her stomach lurched and as he pulled away she found herself still leaning in for more.

Stefan chuckled lightly and kissed her forehead. "Later."

Her eyes fluttered open as he walked away. Like a switch all rational thought came flooding back, and with it, came the feeling of guilt and the battle of her inner conscience ensued. She pushed away thoughts of Elena and the strange feeling that she was going against nature's intentions. Ever since she began discovering the supernatural, the notion that vampires and witches shouldn't mix had been hammered into her. Not just by her Grams, but by herself.

_Christ, Bonnie, get a grip, _she thought to herself.

"Dammit!" She huffed and began to walk down the corridor to her next class, trying to ignore the tingling sensation still throbbing in her lips, when her phone started buzzing. She rolled her eyes upon seeing the caller I.D: _Damon. _If it wasn't one Salvatore, it was the other.

"What do you want, Damon?"

"_Again, what makes you think I want something?"_

"Okay, bye then."

"_Wait wait wait wait – okay, yes, THIS TIME I need your help."_

"And there it is," she smirked, "I'm at school, make it quick."

"_Hm. Slight little problem with that. I'm gonna need you to skip a class or two."_

Bonnie ducked out of the corridor and into an empty classroom. "Are you kidding me?" she hissed irritably into her cell.

"_Afraid not, Judgey. But I swear it's important."_

She took a deep breath in and out. Of all the things that had changed and he s_till _called her that? Lord have mercy.

"Okay, fine. What is it?"

"_I'll text you the directions. See you later."_

"What? Damon can't you just tell-"

Bonnie cursed under her breath as the dial tone rung to signal Damon had hung up. Asshole. Her phone bleeped from his text; he'd basically sent her a Google Maps pin. Hudson off Route 13.

Bonnie tapped in a quick reply:

_**Coming to the rescue. Again.**_

* * *

Damon grimaced as he stared down at the arrow skewered through his chest._ There goes another one of my designer shirts._

He pinged the line the arrow was attached to and the bomb on the end of it rattled slightly_._

_Fucking fantastic._

He had set out on not having to call Bonnie for this simple task but he hadn't anticipated The Hunter having a land mine in his trailer, obviously. Already his flesh had begun to heal around the wound the arrow had created and the brittle metal was scratching against his insides – at least he could be thankful it wasn't absolutely necessary for him to breath.

He craned his neck a little when he heard the door of the trailer creak open.

"What the…?"

"Come in, close the door," Damon hissed.

Bonnie scanned the admittedly expensive looking interior, before she noticed Damon was impaled by the most violently jagged arrow she had ever seen. Her eyes followed the string to the small green box, the words engraved on it '_FRONT TOWARD ENEMY'._

"Tell me that is not a bomb…"

"Okay," Damon grinned, "it's a kitten – it's an adorable, exploding kitten."

"Now is not the time for your stupid remarks! Ugh!" Bonnie spluttered as she moved around him to get a 360 degree view.

"You said-"

"I know what I said!"

He smirked. "Come on, you're here now – and you know this is _way_ more interesting than English Literature or whatever it is you're doing nowadays," he yammered, waving a hand dismissively.

"I'm neither going to admit or deny that. Could you stop moving, please?" she winced.

"Gladly." Damon gestured to a sharp-looking knife that Connor had conveniently left on a side table. "Cut the arrow out and then we can get out of here."

Bonnie nodded and picked up the knife with a shaky hand. Damon waited impatiently as she took a minute to calm her nerves before she started carving out the arrow and odd bits of flesh.

"Hey," Damon murmured, "check this out…"

For a moment Bonnie was worried he was going to do/say something inappropriate but for once he was all business. He held up a weathered looking letter.

She squinted in attempt to read the finely scrawled handwriting. "What is it?"

"A letter from Pastor Young. You know, the crazy dead dude?"

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "He was a nice guy – I know it's not in your nature but could you be just a _little _more respectful?"

Damon only rose his eyebrows. "Ya, nice _crazy _guy," he waved the letter in Bonnie's face, "he wrote a letter about sacrifice and war brewing in Mystic Falls."

"Mystic Falls is Mystic Falls. After everything that's happened who are we to say something's far-fetched?" she frowned.

Damon snorted. "Bonnie, he wrote about a greater evil. You'd think we've got just about as evil as it gets, right?"

"You mean the pony-drawing hybrid?"

Damon laughed and dropped the letter back where he found it. "I guess," he finally admitted.

The sound of Damon's flesh squishing filled the air as a beat in the conversation ensued. Bonnie concentrated on avoiding getting too much blood on her fingers.

"Bonnie?"

"Mhmm?"

"There's um…" Pause. "I'm going to the hospital later to ambush the hunter. You want in?"

Bonnie peered at the back of Damon's head curiously before answering. "I'll pass. Stefan's invited me round and Rebekah's having a party…plus I don't really want to see The Hunter ever again, considering…"

"Oh right, yeah. Sure that's cool."

"Damon…"

"No, really. I get it."

She pursed her lips and began to cut quicker. The sooner she could leave, the better.

"I should've been there," he said lowly.

"What?"

"The Hunter…when he got you. I should have been there to stop it but I was looking for him myself and," he let out a sarcastic laugh, "arguing with Stefan. Like always."

For a moment she wanted to laugh at him because it seemed so ridiculous to her that he was actually valuing her life. She didn't mention that she'd sort of been there with them to see the argument. Instead, she sighed. "Damon, for once, it's not your fault. I shouldn't have run off like an idiot, to be honest," she admitted, letting out a sarcastic laugh of her own. "I guess I'm so used to being able to do my own thing and having my powers to protect me that I didn't think."

She was glad that he was trapped in place by the arrow so he couldn't turn around and pin her with those eyes of his.

"Still…" Damon mumbled.

"I'm done," Bonnie announced and she dropped the stained knife back on the table.

"Awesome," he grimaced and pulled out the arrow. "Come on, let's go."

He ushered her out of the trailer and she shrugged his pushing hands off her shoulders.

"You need a ride home?" he asked.

"If you're offering."

He led her to the end of the pathway to his car and opened the door for her, to which she raised her eyebrows and snorted. He rolled his eyes in return. As soon as he'd sat down in the driver's seat and started the engine he got his phone out and dialled a number.

"You know you shouldn't drive and phone someone at the same time, right?" Bonnie sniffed.

He stared at her drolly. "I'm a vampire; I practically have superpowers, Judgey. I think we'll be fine."

"_Hello, Damon!"_

Bonnie was able to hear the other line vaguely. Her face scrunched in distaste when she recognised the husky accented voice on the other end.

"Klaus? Where's Tyler?" Damon questioned.

Bonnie didn't catch what the head hybrid said in reply but she didn't really care to know either. She stared out of the window and thought about tonight with Stefan. The more she thought about it the more she got anxious. Alone time…with Stefan. What if he started kissing her? What if he wanted…_more? _She'd spent time with Stefan one-on-one when he was in Ripper-mode and forced her to hide the coffins in the witch house from Klaus but she figured it wasn't quite the same. She rubbed her forehead and tried to no avail to stop worrying.

* * *

**Thank you for reading :) If I'm being completely honest, this is my least favourite chapter so far. I guess you could say it was a filler. I wanted to get to all the exciting stuff but plot reasons kept cropping up which I had to write in. Sigh. I'd hoped to get in some Klonnie/Baroline because I'm dying to write those scenes. So they should be coming up sooner rather than later. On a lighter note, can I get a hip-hip for Rebekah being a badass bitch? It's not uncommon but I just kicked it up a notch! I'm really hoping to get the ball rolling over the next few chapters so I hope you'll stay with me :) Till next time!**

**Oh, and please review and let me know your thoughts! :D Team Stefonnie or Team Bamon? Or Team Bonnie-being-an-independent-woman-who-don't-need-no-silly-man? ;)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello lovelies. An update is finally here so thank you all for being patient with me and keeping me motivated with your amazing reviews. There's something for everyone in this chapter so happy reading!**

* * *

**Note: I understand that some people may have not seen this episode/stopped watching the show at this point so if you haven't seen 4x03 aka 'The Rager' then you might wanna read a summary because otherwise the end of this chapter will probs confuse you a little. I've tried to make it so it's not completely necessary but eh it'd help lol. I'm beginning to veer off from canon so it won't matter much soon. Pesky show plots! **

* * *

By the time Damon pulled up outside of the Boarding House it was gone four 'o' clock.

Bonnie pouted and remained perched in the passenger seat. "You're not going to take me home?"

"Is that an invitation?" Damon asked suggestively with raised eyebrows.

She rolled her eyes and almost said 'you wish' but caught herself. It was possible that Damon actually did want that right now, and she didn't want him to get any ideas. "I need to go home to get ready for tonight."

Damon's jaw tightened at the thought of Stefan and Bonnie alone in the house. Or getting drunk together at Rebekah's skanky party. He didn't know which was worse. "Get ready here, half of your stuff is here anyway," he shrugged and got out of the car.

Bonnie followed suit and tried to mask her surprise and confusion. To tell the truth, it felt like that's all she ever did nowadays; was be shocked all the time, ever since she got tangled up into this crazy mess. She was damn near sick of it. As she followed Damon through the heavy wooden doors of the boarding house her phone began to ring.

"Caroline, hey!" she smiled down the phone.

"_Okay, so I'm totally trying to give you the silent treatment right now cause you've become a recluse for the past fortnight – but I gotta ask you if you're going to Rebekah's tonight. Elena is planning on showing up and I could do with you there to keep me sane."_

Bonnie laughed at Caroline's mini speech. "Uh, it depends. Stefan wants me to stay with him at the boarding house so it depends if he wants to go to the party or not."

There was a brief pause from the other end where Bonnie guessed Caroline was thinking – or more likely speculating.

"_Sorry, did I just hear that right?"_

"What?"

"_Since when were you the whipped one? I thought it was always Stefan going with whatever you said not the other way around," _Caroline laughed.

"Oh, um. Well…" Bonnie blinked as she realised Caroline was right. Having only 'woken up' a few days ago she wasn't sure exactly about her and Stefan's dynamics but she was never one to be dictated by what someone else decided. She marched to the beat of her own drum, always had, always would. She knew she was falling right into Caroline's trap but now more than ever she needed to retain who she was. "Okay I'll see you there then."

"_Great! Get some of Damon's bourbon to bring, wouldja?"_

Bonnie snorted. "If you're lucky. I'll see you later, Care."

"_Later, Bon."_

Bonnie pocketed her phone and took a few more steps further into the Salvatore's home tentatively. It was the first time she'd stepped foot in it since the world flipped itself upside-down. Everything seemed the same as it was before.

"Oh, before you ask, the answer is no."

Bonnie jumped involuntarily since she hadn't realised Damon was standing right behind her. She spun around and hit him not too lightly on his hard chest to push him away.

"What are you talking about?" she breathed.

Damon smirked at her flustered state and walked around her towards his home bar, not without making sure his arm brushed against her side ever so slightly. "My bourbon."

"Oh," Bonnie sighed and then raised a brow, "you know it's rude to eavesdrop?"

The midnight haired vampire shrugged his shoulders. "You're in my house, Bennett," he reminded her as he poured out a tumbler of whiskey.

Whilst he had his back turned Bonnie took the opportunity to make for the stairs and search for whatever room her stuff was supposedly in.

"Bonnie, wait."

Her steps slowed into a gradual halt and she turned back to face Damon. He glanced up briefly before guzzling the amber liquid in his glass.

She was a second away of becoming impatient when he finally approached her cautiously and cleared his throat.

"Before you go," he began, "It's about…the other day. I need to know what you meant."

Bonnie laughed nervously. "Ah, Damon, you're going to have to be a bit more specific."

He shifted on his feet uneasily. It was clear that he was out of his comfort zone in making himself look even the slightest bit vulnerable. Bonnie realised whatever it was must be important to him for him to willingly put himself in this position.

"At The Memorial. You said: whenever I speak to you it's because I want something." His intense luminescent eyes darted around the room characteristically before they landed on her.

"Oh," she glanced at the floor and then back up to him. There was a manic look about him and she knew she had to be careful with her words. He still had the empty glass in his hand and was toying with it anxiously. He probably wasn't even aware he was doing it.

"To tell the truth Damon, I was wrong," she began. Bonnie sighed as she realised things had changed. The Damon from her past – that only _she_ remembered – none of that had happened. She realised she couldn't hold him to somethings that he never did. If everything, somehow, went back to the way it was, she could go back to hating him. For now, however, she had to consider that he had been treating her as a friend – maybe even more. Even _before, _she sensed that he had always had respect for her. Maybe it had been because of her powers, maybe not. Either way, it was apparent that Damon had some form of emotional investment in her now that she had to consider. "I realise that now."

It wasn't strictly an apology because that wasn't their kind of thing.

Damon was desperate to push for a bigger explanation but he understood that, for now, that was the most she could give him. He squinted and nodded. "Okay."

She blinked as he reached out to stroke her jawline before stepping back abruptly. "Stefan's home," he said huskily.

Not a second later the door swung open and Stefan strode in. When Bonnie turned to face him she noticed he did not look happy – far from it. "Stef-?"

He barely spared her a second's glance as he paced past her to approach Damon, who for good reason put his glass down carefully.

"I thought I told you to leave her alone, huh?" Stefan whispered threateningly. It wasn't necessary for him to speak loudly since he was now practically standing on top of Damon.

The older brother looked at his sibling lazily. He poked Stefan in the chest and used that single finger to push him away irritably. "And what makes you think I do what you tell me, brother?"

"Damon, so help me God I swear if you don't-"

"That's _enough_!"

The two brother's eyes met briefly in mutual surprise before Stefan turned and Damon leaned to stare at the small redundant witch in their living room.

"I have had it up to _here," _she raised her right hand above her forehead sternly, "with your fucking arguments!"

The Salvatores's both winced slightly as Bonnie swore since it wasn't something they were used to. Their little witch was always prim and proper, so you knew if she ever slipped then she was seriously pissed.

"You're both over a hundred years old and you act like prepubescent _boys!" _she continued almost hysterically. She didn't plan on exploding like a volcano but one can only bottle up their emotions so much before they're triggered to burst out. Stefan and Damon stared at her blankly, probably due to shock at her outburst but their lack of reaction only served to annoy her more. "Ugh," she huffed and stalked out of the expansive living room. Now she wanted more than anything to get ready for that party and just let loose with Caroline but for the life of her she (of course) didn't know which room all of her stuff was in. So she headed for the room she was usually resigned to in the Salvatore abode: the library. With its cushy arm chairs and crackling fire, it wasn't so bad. She rubbed her temples gently as she entered the room and then gasped when she looked up.

Floor to ceiling, a whole wall's worth of bookshelf was dedicated to holding countless numbers of Grimoires. As she got closer, she saw that some were so old and dusty the spine looked close to disintegrating, and some were so new that she wondered how they'd got a hold of them.

Breathlessly, she ran her fingers along the edges of the books before she sensed an ominous presence in the room. Her dark hair bounced off of her shoulders as she turned and it was none other than the infamous hybrid standing on the wooden platform.

"Trouble in paradise?" he gloated.

Bonnie scoffed and almost turned back to looking at the Grimoires before she realised how foolish it would be to turn her back to him. "Damon's in the living room," she said icily, remembering they had a common goal in catching the hunter.

"I know. I can hear him," Klaus reminded her, "still bickering with Stefan, in case you were wondering."

"I wasn't."

"Didn't think so," he smirked.

They stared at each other from opposite ends of the room, an unspoken challenge, before Bonnie had to bite the inside of her cheek firmly to prevent herself from wavering when he flashed up in front of her. She held her head high resiliently and fought the urge to cower. He needn't remind her that without her powers he could break her, all too easily.

"Hm. Not so snarky now we've lost our magic now, are we?" he teased.

"And whose fault is that?" she snapped back. The words were out of her mouth before she could train herself to shut up.

Klaus nodded in admittance but of course he didn't look apologetic at all. In fact, he actually looked almost smug. "Well, my offer still stands, Bennett. Let me know _when_ you change your mind."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Bonnie stated coolly, as if she were playing dumb. Of course she genuinely didn't know but if she played her cards right Klaus would take the bait.

Klaus took another step closer which Bonnie wasn't all too comfortable with. He was one of the many vampires that didn't seem to understand the concept of personal space and at this point she could smell the annoyingly pleasant cologne emanating from him.

He smiled, showing the dimples that should belong to no serial killer and Bonnie tensed.

"The dumb act doesn't suit you, love. It's only a matter of time before you get yourself killed saving the lives of your impotent friends. You should join the winning team before it's too late."

She narrowed her eyes. "You tried to _kill_ me!"

She couldn't be bothered to specify which time since he had made multiple attempts.

"If I remember correctly it was you that tried to kill me first," he reminded her half-seriously, "it was mere self-defence."

Bonnie exhaled through her nose furiously. "Just go kill the hunter and _get out of town_ before we figure out another way to take you down."

The playful smile washed away from his face and for a moment Klaus looked simply disappointed. "You could have it all, Bonnie," he shrugged and then lowered his voice to a deep whisper, "I've been around for a thousand years, love. I know some of the most powerful witches on Earth that could help you with your little lost magic problem. You might consider it wise to…'_get out of town' _with me."

Before Bonnie could smite his outrageous offer he had disappeared in the blink of an eye. Her hair flew up from the quick displacement of air and she distantly heard a short commotion downstairs as Klaus must have made his being there known to Stefan and Damon. For an unknown amount of time she stood glued to the spot as the hybrid's words echoed in her mind.

She shook her head. She wanted to believe he was lying but it was common knowledge that Klaus, along with the rest of The Originals, knew many witches. They often used them at their disposal after all. She pushed away the part of her mind that argued that Klaus' offer may be the only way to get her powers back. If getting her powers back meant turning into Greta 2.0 then it wasn't worth it.

…Right?

"Bon?"

She looked up to see Stefan leaning against the doorframe staring at her curiously. She struggled to gather her slipped composure before walking over to him.

"Party time?" she smiled.

He grinned back. "You bet."

* * *

"You know, there's fashionably late, and then there's this," Bonnie pouted with her arms folded as she watched Stefan perfect his hair in the antique mirror. No wonder it always looked so good – took him a near-lifetime to do it.

Stefan laughed as he turned away from his reflection and strode towards his girlfriend. When he reached her, he pushed her pin straight hair over her shoulders gently and let his hands fall down slowly to rest on her hips. "Since when have you been so eager to get to a party?"

"Since Caroline threatened to whoop my ass if I didn't," Bonnie replied. She was getting no better at keeping calm whenever Stefan made any move on her that could be deemed as above platonic but she found she was learning to…accept it better. A few days ago Stefan's hands on her would have caused her to quite literally run in the opposite direction. At least now she could act normal and keep from hurting his feelings all the time.

Stefan laughed quietly in understanding as his hands travelled further south. Their eyes remained trained on each other and neither dared to look away and break the spell. Bonnie knew she had to stop him, soon, but she allowed herself just a few seconds to revel. It was plain as day to anyone that Stefan resembled that of a Greek God and she was only human. She harboured secret desires like any other, so for a precious few moments she let herself relax – well, as much as she could. Blood pounded in her ears and her heart rate was sky rocketing; she could sense Stefan knew because of the telling predatory look in his eyes. It should have scared her but it didn't; it made her feel _wanted._

She cleared her throat when she sensed he was about to lean in, scoop her up and throw her onto his bed. "We're late."

"It can wait," he said huskily.

She gulped when Stefan used his hold on her ass to lift her up. The world tilted for a moment before her back hit a wall which half a second before had been several metres away.

He swallowed her shocked squeal with a deep kiss which she eventually melted into against her resolve. Stefan pulled her as close as humanely possible, meshing their bodies together so tightly that Bonnie could _feel _his growing arousal pressing against her thigh. She panted for air as he pulled his lips away from hers only to kiss her neck hungrily, making up for all the lost time over the past few days. Bonnie unintentionally let out a small sigh of pleasure in the brief moment of bliss before squeezing her eyes shut determinedly. It couldn't go on, she knew it shouldn't – couldn't. She pushed her small hands against his lean shoulders. Stefan pulled away but kept her held against him.

"Bonnie…" he began, "it's been _weeks."_

Her eyelashes batted repeatedly as a hot flush ran up her neck and to her cheeks. "Has it?" she mumbled.

Stefan frowned and all of a sudden his happy demeanour was gone. He let her down carefully and ducked his head down to Bonnie's height; she was doing a good job of not looking him in the eye. "Yes, it has." He took hold of her chin gently and pulled her face up to look at him. "We haven't been _together _since…since you lost your powers…" It suddenly dawned on him and Stefan looked down at Bonnie again only this time with a sad understanding. "When you lost your powers, you lost your confidence. That's what this is all about, isn't it?"

Bonnie didn't say anything. She didn't know _what _to say. Letting Stefan believe that was certainly better than the truth. Her eyes welled up with salty tears unwillingly and Stefan pulled her in for a hug but she wasn't crying about her powers.

The truth was: She'd never gotten around to having sex. Apart from Jeremy, she'd only had a few small relationships here and there, nothing that deserved her virginity. She'd loved Jeremy more than anything but somehow, amongst all the hocus pocus and saving everyone's lives, they'd never managed to get onto that level ofintimacy.

It appeared here and now she'd already done it and she didn't remember, or know, a thing. Lord knew how many times she'd managed to get intimate with someone – not just Stefan. She didn't even know if this meant if she was still a virgin or not. Surely, at least mentally, she was? And she couldn't hold Stefan off forever. They were well into a long-term relationship by now and had apparently already had a_ lot _of sex. Except she didn't know it. She didn't have the experience – none of it. Stefan would expect things of her: habits; tricks; secrets that they shared, that she wasn't even aware of.

Stefan pulled her out of the hug gently to cup her tear stained cheeks. "Bonnie, I love you no matter what. You know that. We'll get through this together, I promise."

* * *

"Seriously, where the heck is Bonnie?" Caroline frowned, "do you think I should call her?"

"Nah," Elena said as she leaned against a kitchen counter, "she'll be here eventually. She's coming with Stefan and you know how long it takes for the guy to do his hair."

Caroline snorted and laughed, "True."

"So where's Tyler?" Elena asked as she craned her neck to look over the crowd of teenagers. Bonnie and Stefan were coming through the front door holding hands. "They're here."

The two baby vampires made their way over to the front door still in conversation. "Trapped in his house, with some other hybrids," Caroline rolled her eyes, "Klaus wants him protected from the hunter."

Elena rose a brow. "You know, sometimes Klaus logic goes right over my head. He wants to preserve the hybrid race so he calls in more hybrids to put themselves in danger, for Tyler, his least loyal hybrid?"

Caroline shrugged. "Beats me."

As Bonnie, Stefan, Caroline and Elena reached each other, the girls all pulled in for a three-way hug whilst Stefan stood to the side and grabbed a drink out of some random dude's hand.

"This is mine now," he compelled. The young guy nodded hypnotically and wandered away.

Bonnie pulled away from Caroline and Elena and frowned at Stefan who was slurping beer from the red plastic cup. "Hey," she grabbed the drink out of Stefan's hand.

"Wha-? I was drinking that!"

"Since when was it okay for you to compel random people?"

Stefan shrugged.

"They're _people, _Stefan, remember? Not puppets! I swear sometimes lately you remind me of…"

Stefan's posture stiffened and his jaw locked in place. "_Who?"_

She looked at him in the eyes sternly. "Nothing. It doesn't matter."

"Damon," Stefan stated, "I remind you of Damon."

Bonnie sighed. "All I'm saying is, one year ago you would have never done that."

Stefan took the cup out of Bonnie's hand and drank from it again. "People change," he said dryly before walking away.

Bonnie stared at his back until he went round a corner and sighed. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Caroline.

"He'll come around. It's only because he knows you're right," she said quietly.

"I wish I wasn't," Bonnie sighed as she ran a hand through her hair. "I need to use the bathroom so I'll be right back…but in the meantime you guys can entertain yourselves with this…"

Caroline and Elena's eye lit up as Bonnie pulled a bottle of Macallan whiskey from her bag.

"He. Is. Going. To. Kill. You." Caroline stated in reference to Damon, as she took the expensive drink out of Bonnie's proffered hand.

"Believe it or not, it was one of the less expensive ones," Bonnie grinned before skipping away in search of a toilet.

It took a ten minute wait in a line of annoying intoxicated teenagers but eventually Bonnie got into the bathroom and locked the door behind her. Finally alone, Bonnie slumped against the nearest wall and rubbed her head. Her altercation with Stefan had caused more stress than she'd let on to the girls. She hadn't meant to insult him but deep down she knew she only said it because it was what she truthfully thought. Stefan had always been the brother to have respect of human free will and ever since he came back from his road trip with Klaus he was never the same. Yet, who could blame anyone from being a bit damaged after spending the summer with the psychopath of the century – no – _millennia?_

Bonnie stood up straight and walked over to the full length mirror in the glamorous bathroom. Rebekah had good taste, she'd give her that. She leaned in close to the mirror and smudged any rogue eyeliner with the tip of her finger before ruffling up the curls of her hair a little more.

She suddenly froze as her hand ran across her smooth hair. Bonnie blinked furiously at the dishonest reflection and looked down at her shoulders; her hair was straight right now.

When she looked back up at the reflection again she startled and stepped away but the reflection didn't move. It was closer than it should be too; looking as if _she_ were almost pressed against the very surface.

Bonnie stared wide-eyed as her reflection blinked emotionlessly and opened its mouth. "_I want my life back, Bonnie."_

A loud knock on the door alarmed her and she inadvertently gasped. Bonnie looked at the door as the knocking continued quickly and incessantly before looking back at the mirror again. This time she saw a scared, straight-haired girl with a single trail of blood trickling from her nose.

"Bonnie? _Bonnie_! Are you in there?"

Bonnie lifted a shaking hand to wipe away the blood. "Yeah Caroline, it's me."

"You have to get out here, something's wrong with Stefan," Caroline yelled over the pounding music.

"What?" Bonnie rushed over to the door and as soon as she flicked the lock off Caroline thrust it open. "What do you mean?"

Words evaded Caroline so she desperately grabbed at her friend's hand and tugged her out of the bathroom. "I managed to get him into my car," she explained, "but it's bad. It's…it's like he's come down with a fever or something; I don't understand."

They rushed out of Rebekah's beautiful new bachelorette home without looking back. When they finally reached Caroline's hybrid, which was parked over the street, Elena jumped out of the passenger seat. "Stefan's lying down in the back," the doppelganger stammered as her two friends approached.

Bonnie's steps slowed to a halt a few yards away from the car as a prickling dread swarmed over her. Caroline spared her a frightened glance before opening the back door of her car.

Stefan was lying down over the seats with a hand over his throbbing head but forced himself to sit up when the girls began to crowd around. His eyes rolled over all of their faces lethargically until they laid onto the dark-skinned, green eyed beauty that was the only girl in the world who he loved.

"Bonnie," he rasped. He took shallow breaths and tried to finish the sentence but the simple notion of it felt like too much energy.

The girl in question gulped as she hurried to Stefan's side. "What happened, Stefan?"

Stefan's head lolled back onto the head rest. His brain felt like it had been stuffed with cotton wool. Everything he heard was somehow heightened, even more than everything already was, yet managed to be muffled and out of focus at the same time. And the fatigue, that was the worst. The blood in his veins was flowing so sluggishly even the slightest movement made him out of breath. "I don't…know," he gasped.

"Oh my God," Caroline murmured.

Everyone, even Stefan looked up at Caroline expectantly as her bright blue eyes widened in horror.

"What is it, Caroline?" Elena asked.

"It…it looks like – he looks like he's…"

Bonnie looked at Stefan's pale pallor and his growing unawareness. "Oh God. The Hunter. Damon said he had werewolf venom."

"But how?" Elena began.

"It doesn't matter," Bonnie said. She climbed into the backseat with Stefan and let him rest his head on her lap. "We have to get back to the boarding house."

Caroline nodded. "Okay, I'll drive."

"No," Bonnie grabbed her wrist before she could walk around to the driver's seat, "You have to go and find Klaus. Persuade him to give Stefan his blood to cure him."

Caroline frowned and laughed. "What makes you think Klaus will listen to me?"

"Well he has a thing for you, right?" Bonnie shrugged.

"Since when?" Caroline snorted, "It's you that's got his original panties in a twist. Guess after we took out Greta he's been looking for a new witch slash sex partner," she added in disgust.

Bonnie pulled a face. "Let's just get to the boarding house before Stefan starts having hallucinations."

* * *

Klaus waited patiently for The Hunter to wake up from unconsciousness inside the man's high tech trailer. It was easy to have patience when you were immortal, so even in this intriguing situation he didn't find it difficult to remain calm.

Connor's eyes snapped open and he jolted up from his laid down position as soon as he realised he should be dead right now. He should be a martyr, blown to smithereens along with Damon Salvatore and…what was it had Shane called him? Oh yes, Niklaus Mikaelson.

As soon as the dark man sat up Klaus reached out to shove him back down again roughly, which caused Connor to moan in pain from the various bruises and cuts that marred his body. Klaus smirked and tugged at the lapels of his jacket as he loomed over Connor, satisfied with the man's confused expression.

"You saved me," Connor said as he glared up at the British devil in the form of a handsome man. It was more of a statement than a question.

"Congratulations; you just became worth to me more alive than dead," the hybrid smiled.

Connor broke eye contact with Klaus briefly before remembering something The Original had said just before his suicide attempt. "What did you mean when you said I was one of The Five?"

The ever present smirk on Klaus' face vanished for once in stark realisation. "You don't know your own history?" Klaus lowered himself to kneel at Connor's level. Connor watched his every move. "Well let's just say it's made you the most well protected vampire hunter in town."

A devious smile began to etch its way onto Klaus' face again before they were interrupted by the vibrating of a mobile phone. The thousand year old man pulled a top-of-the-range phone out of his pocket and raised his eyebrows in unmasked surprise.

"Bonnie Bennett," he grinned down the phone and rose up again to his full height, "to what do I owe the pleasure?"

Connor watched a number of expressions cross over Klaus' face, which was all he had to go by seeing as he couldn't hear what was being said on the other end. He recognised the name Bonnie Bennett…her name rang a bell and sparked an itch in his mind.

"Oh well that is a shame isn't it love," the hybrid said gravely, but his voice lacked true sincerity and care.

_Bonnie Bennett…_Connor repeated the name over and over in his mind until finally it clicked. Atticus Shane himself had mentioned her; she was the girlthat was so important to him, _the witch _that the eccentric professor so had desperately wanted to be alive. _I was unsuccessful in killing her…_ Connor wasn't sure whether he was glad of this or not. The girl could easily come after him for revenge. Not that he was scared of her – he just had bigger, more pressing things to worry about. Like the immortal maniac standing before him.

"Tell you what, sweetheart. I'll be over soon and perhaps we will be able to come to an…_arrangement_." Insert – devious smile, dimples and all – here. "I just have to tie up a few loose ends first."

Klaus finally took the slick phone away from his ear and grinned like the cat that caught the canary.

* * *

Bonnie gently pressed a cold flannel to Stefan's sweltering forehead. The hallucinations had started and it was only due to his weak feverish state that Bonnie was able to keep him under control. She had allowed him to rip his way through several blood bags but refused to permit him any more because Stefan was characteristically unstable when it came to his bloodlust.

Bonnie let out a breath of relief when Stefan's eyes drifted shut; she could tell he was in a dream filled sleep because his eyes moved rapidly underneath closed lids and he muttered incoherent words occasionally. She gripped onto his hand worriedly. He was slipping away. He had managed to consume a considerable amount of the poisoned beer before the werewolf venom began to take effect.

"Come on Klaus," Bonnie muttered under her breath desperately between a bit lip. She was determined to stay strong, to not cry. Deep down, she still believed that Stefan wasn't hers, that she had no right to him. However that didn't mean that she still didn't care for him, especially after the past week. She'd lost most of her family, some of her friends and the larger the list grew, the larger the gaping hole in her aching heart.

"Well he doesn't look too good now, does he?"

Bonnie startled and wiped away a single treacherous tear that had managed to escape and slip down her cheek. She stood up from the bed but kept her hand locked in Stefan's.

"You came," she croaked.

Klaus quirked a brow. "Well, you called."

Bonnie thought now would be a good time to smile but she couldn't find it in her to do so.

"Klaus?" a tired voice rasped from beside her.

Bonnie knelt down again to Stefan so fast it looked like she'd been electric shocked. "You're awake. He's here to heal you," she told him reassuringly.

"Wouldn't be so sure about that, love."

A chill trickled down her spine at Klaus' cold words. "W-what?" she asked, her voice nearing on shrill. "You know that you're the only one that can heal him, Klaus. Please."

Klaus smiled in victory. He did so love it when people came crawling back to beg for mercy. "And what would you have done if I were no longer here? Hm? If you and your friends had succeeded in ridding the world of me? Let's play that game now, shall we?" he tormented viciously.

He sensed his slipped composure scared the powerless witch but she did a good job of pretending it didn't.

"What do you want from me?" Bonnie asked regretfully as she stood to his height. Well – as close to his height as she could get. He towered over her even despite her advantage of heels boots.

"Well, isn't this an interesting turn of events?" Klaus closed the gap between them. "What _was_ is we were talking about earlier?"

Bonnie gulped.

He leaned in to whisper menacingly into her ear. "Now I would d_efinitely _consider it wise for you to get out of town with me."

She jerked away from him quickly.

"Don't do it, Bonnie."

She had almost forgotten Stefan was there in the room with them for a moment. "You did it for Damon," she reminded him without taking her eyes off of Klaus.

"She doesn't have any other choice," Klaus stated. He smirked before suddenly raising his wrist to his mouth and ripping into it with his sharp razor fangs. His glowing amber eyes stared at her and he showed the double punctures to her. They were slowly but surely healing. "Going once…"

Bonnie turned to stare at Stefan's nearly lifeless body and then back to the wounds in Klaus' inner arm that were now nearing the size of pin pricks.

"Going twice…"

"_Okay! _Okay, yes I'll do it!" she cried at the last second.

The corner of Klaus' lip quirked upwards victoriously.

"You do everything I say and I save your boyfriend. That's the deal."

"Bonnie, no…" Stefan managed to barely utter.

"Yes," she whispered brokenly, "just save him. Now. Please."

Klaus grinned widely showing his dimples and fangs. It was an incredibly juxtaposed sight. He began to walk over to the bed towards Stefan, biting into his arm again to widen the wound, before perching on the edge of the bed.

"Open wide, _Rippah_…"

* * *

_**Thank you for reading (: **_

**So. Quite a few controversial events. Lol. **

**Please let me know what you think! I'm dying to hear your two cents on Bamon's lil conversation, Bonnie/Stefonnie's virgin-or-no-virgin problemo and of course the fact that Bonnie may now be Klaus' 'little bitch' as Tyler would say. And the freaky mirror thing. (I hope no one got confused when reading that because I found it difficult to describe lol). I had fun writing this chapter so I hope yall liked reading it. Love you all!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello there peoples. Remember me? ;)**

**Lawd I am so sorry for the horrendously delayed update. I am incredibly bogged down with my coursework and exams. Gotta love deadline season (not.)**

**In my absence this story surpassed 200 reviews. When it did I almost cried because I knew I wouldn't be able to update soon after as a thank you. I really, really do appreciate every single review I have received for this story and every single one of you who has stuck with me. I really can't thank you enough.**

**Also, I hate to do this and single one person out of all of my supporters, but I must give a quick shout out to Kiara who reviewed more recently, not once, not twice, but five times asking me to update. Unfortunately you were on a guest account so I couldn't message you but girl thank you for kicking my butt into gear. I'm humbled you love the fic so much.**

**This chap is a bit choppy for my liking but it is Bamon heavy which I know a lot of people will enjoy. Happy reading everyone.**

* * *

Stefan examined the small wooden stake curiously and let his fingers trace over the tribal-like engravings gently. "So what is all this?"

"Some personal items that I snaked from the vampire hunter's RV," Damon said as he walked into the boarding house living room with a box balanced on his shoulder. "May he Rest in Peace."

Damon placed the box on one of their many antique tables and began to rummage through it. "I'm looking for his supernatural handbook."

"And you know for a fact he was supernatural?" Stefan asked.

"Well he definitely wasn't natural," Damon snorted. "The guy magically appeared just as someone blew up the entire founder's council. He's covered in a tattoo that Jeremy Gilbert, of all people in the world, seems to be able to see. Klaus mentioned something about him being one of 'The Five'. And he kamikazes himself with explosives. Does that sound natural to you?"

"What's The Five?" Stefan questioned, choosing to ignore Damon's spiel.

"That's what I'm hoping is in the first chapter of the supernatural handbook," Damon smirked. He placed a complicated looking science experiment on the table and frowned. "Have you spoken to Bonnie?"

Stefan's shoulders slumped and he scratched at the grain of the wooden stake with his bitten thumbnail. "She's not returning my calls but I know that she's in her house which Klaus isn't invited into. So at least for now I know she's safe."

Damon swallowed and stared intensely into the middle distance. If Stefan didn't know any better he might actually think Damon was in the middle of feeling guilty right now. "She should have called me. You are _my_ brother; I should have made the deal and I should be the one indebted to Klaus," Damon reasoned.

"Klaus wouldn't have made a deal with you," Stefan pointed out, "he'd have nothing to gain."

"What could he possibly gain from a witch that has no powers?"

Stefan crossed his arms over his broad torso. "Maybe Klaus knows something we don't."

"Wouldn't be the first time," Damon said bitterly. His phone rang loudly in his pocket, cutting off their conversation. "Liz Forbes, my favourite sheriff," he greeted, balancing the phone between his ear and shoulder.

Stefan took the time to search through one of the boxes himself whilst Damon had what sounded like a brief yet grim conversation. He wasn't even sure what he was looking for, or why; his thoughts were so consumed with the memories from last night that if he did happen to come across anything important he'd miss it.

It was eating him alive not knowing what Klaus wanted from Bonnie. He supposed it was _possible_ that as of yet, he didn't want anything and was just using the insurance as a safety blanket should anything pop up. Stefan knew better to think that though; Klaus was notorious for always being one step ahead.

Stefan laid his palms flat on the dark wooden table as Damon hung up and pocketed his phone. "What was that then?" he asked impatiently.

"Can't tell you, it's private," Damon said, "we're in a fight."

Stefan was aware that perhaps his left eye had twitched in that moment. They were in the middle of several crises, he had nearly died last night, and they were still going through _this shit_? "You're in a fight. I'm not in a fight; I'm over it. I've _been_ over it."

Damon pulled a face of disbelief. "You're not still mad at me for pulling Bonnie out of school?"

"You can't seem to stay away from my girlfriend and I'm always gonna be mad at you but we're not in a 'fight'" he stated, emphasising the point by raising his hands to make quotations.

"Very well then," Damon conceded, resisting the urge to smirk, "They didn't find any remains at the explosion site."

"So Connor's still out there?" Stefan deduced.

"Apparently so." Damon chucked an empty box onto the floor frustratedly. "I'm gonna need you to get on this today. I have to take Bonnie to college."

Stefan's eyes snapped up in shock; he wasn't sure if he had _imagined _Damon had the audacity to say something like that, or if he actually did. "I'm sorry; you have to do, what, exactly?"

Damon endured Stefan's stare for a few moments before explaining. "A guy called Professor Shane sent her an email inviting her to an open day. The one that took over her Gram's class after…"

His voice trailed off and he swallowed back the lump in his throat that always resurfaced whenever he thought about _that. _Damon felt single-handedly responsible for the passing of Bonnie's most beloved relative in his unrelenting quest to find Katherine. Barely a day went by that he didn't hate himself for his foolishness. He had no idea whether Bonnie had forgiven him or not but he couldn't say he blamed her if she didn't.

Stefan opened his mouth ready to protest but Damon had already disappeared from the room.

His hands balled up into fists of their own accord as he thought about his damn brother spending time with Bonnie _again _when she wouldn't even pick up the damn phone to speak to _him_. Why was she avoiding him? And after he nearly _died _last night! She wasn't even giving him a chance to thank her, or tell her what a pickle she'd gotten herself into? Or see her one last time before Klaus took her away.

Maybe he wouldn't take her away. Klaus probably wasn't going to be leaving Mystic Falls anytime soon, anyway. Right?

Stefan quickly found himself pacing from one end of the room to the other and then back again, the whole time with his phone in his hand, pressing the button to speed dial Bonnie, over and over again until he was _sure _she'd pick up if only to tell him to stop calling.

But she didn't.

Every time it cut to voicemail his frustration grew. Why wouldn't she pick up?

Stefan stilled suddenly as he remembered what happened last night. What had he done? What did he do – or say – when he was under the influence of the werewolf venom?

"_Shit!" _Stefan cursed and kicked over a chair.

* * *

_Early afternoon sunshine streamed in through cream curtains and Stefan rolled over onto his back, pushing the duvet down to his mid-torso. He gazed towards the window and watched gold flecks of dust dance through the light, before they were obstructed by the silhouette of a beautiful hourglass caramel body. A lazy smile stretched across his face and he pulled the girl – no, woman – down onto the king-sized bed with him gently. She giggled lightly and pressed a soft kiss against his lips; he breathed in her scent, her aura, her entire being until nothing in the world existed except for _his_ Bonnie._

_Until other smaller, louder, but equally important pieces of his world came rushing in._

"_Mummy! Daddy! Get up! Get up!"_

_The mattress bounced under the weight of two jumping children, with olive toned skin and dark frizzy hair, and grey-green eyes that sparkled like emeralds in the sunlight._

_Bonnie laughed and rolled off of her husband._

_The youngest child, a girl of about ten with missing front teeth and pigtails, jumped atop of Stefan and he coughed from the impact. "Wake up Daddy! Wake up!"_

"_I am awake," Stefan croaked with a laugh._

_Bonnie came into view again, only now her skin was weathered and her hair a light silvery-white. Alas, even in age she was the most beautiful thing he would ever see. She cupped his cheek; his soft, forever young skin, gently with an aged hand, an unnaturally _cold_ hand. Or maybe it just felt that way because he, as he just realised, was unbearably hot. Feverish, in fact._

"_You're awake," she whispered softly as a tear slipped down her cheek. "He's here to heal you…"_

_Stefan gazed at her questioningly._ _What was she talking about? He could never be healed. He was cursed. Cursed to forever walk the Earth alone after she was gone; cursed to never hold a child of his own blood._

_He lifted his head off of the pillow, which took much more energy than it ought to, and fading stars blurred his vision. He was in his bedroom, in the boarding house, and it was night time. Bonnie had left his side but he could still hear her, somewhere, above the pounding of his head._

"_You know you're the only one that can heal him, Klaus. Please."_

_His eyes rolled into the back of his head and when he focussed again he saw Damon sat at the end of the bed. What was he doing here?_

"_Emily asked _me _to protect the Bennett line," Damon hissed, "She's not yours and she never will be. Bonnie was mine before she was even born."_

_Stefan breathed heavily as red hot anger bubbled up inside of him – or was it just the fever rising? It was hard to tell at this point._

"_Bonnie…" Stefan murmured, "No…"_

_A shadow stood over him and he waited for death to consume him…maybe he and Bonnie could find each other on The Other Side…_

_Stefan coughed…death tasted strangely coppery…_

* * *

Bonnie eyed the buzzing phone on her bed whilst she stuffed random possessions into a backpack. It was Stefan calling, again, and she figured by now Damon would have managed to show off the fact that they were going to Whitmore College together. It had been on the cards for a while and Bonnie had invited Damon to come with her, during the time when she had been too nervous to be alone with Stefan, and well, she couldn't go back on her invitation now. (Well, she _could_, but she didn't _want_ to.) She didn't know how long she'd have before Klaus came along to collect so before she had to basically give up her free will, she wanted to see what she'd be missing out on, one of those things being college.

"Going somewhere?"

Bonnie shrieked and dropped her bag but Caroline flashed forward to catch it before it could hit the carpet.

"What are you doing here?" she breathed.

"Watching you ignore Stefan's calls, apparently," Caroline said with raised eyebrows.

Bonnie sighed as she took her bag out of Caroline's raised hand. "I just need a few minutes to myself. I'm still trying to get my head around last night."

Caroline nodded. It was to her knowledge that Bonnie had stayed awake, watching Stefan sleep until leaving in the early hours of the morning before he awoke. During that time the two best friends had managed to slip in an hour long phone conversation or two.

"Are you sure you don't want me to come to Whitmore with you?"

Bonnie nodded. "I got Elena coming anyway. I want Damon to teach her how to feed seeing as she can't do blood bags for some reason."

Caroline laughed dryly. "Trust Elena. Since when were you so approving of the livestock diet?"

"I'm not," Bonnie grimaced, "If I could spell her out of this, I would. But I can't."

A moment of silence settled between the two in which Bonnie's mind wandered back to Klaus' past words. If he was telling the truth, and did know of people who could help her get her powers back, then maybe she _could _prevent innocents dying at Elena's hands. Although, it seemed at this point only she still had the mentality that Elena was the centre of everything. Nobody else seemed to give much of a crap.

"Damon's here," Caroline said unexpectedly causing Bonnie to jump out of her musings. A second later there was a knock on the door. "And that's my cue to leave," Caroline said, forcing a smile. Bonnie nodded understandingly and the two quickly hugged goodbye. Even in this time Damon was yet to apologise for his actions toward Caroline.

Bonnie headed for the front door whilst Caroline exited through the back. Damon watched the door swing open to reveal Bonnie, dressed in a pair of curve-hugging olive trousers and a dark wash denim jacket. Her long hair was left down but she had straightened away her natural curls, and a cute bird necklace rested against her exposed collar bones. In short, she was stunning without even trying. He cleared his throat. "You ready?"

The girl in question rose a brow. This was the first time she'd seen Damon since yesterday afternoon and they were yet to catch up over the night's events. "You're not going to question me and tell me what an idiot I am?"

Damon smirked. "We have a whole thirty minute drive ahead of us for that."

"Great," Bonnie mumbled as she stepped outside and locked the door behind her. She followed Damon down the drive and he held the door open to the passenger seat for her. She stared at the sentiment for a moment (she'd never, ever, _ever _get used to this) before sliding into the seat. "Where's Elena?"

Damon walked round to the driver's side and lowered himself into the car before answering, "How should I know?"

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Just drive to the Gilbert's."

* * *

Klaus dabbed his brush into a deep burgundy palette and poised it carefully over a brand new canvas. He hadn't really planned exactly what he was about to paint – he just knew in light of recent events his good mood had caused his muse to perk up.

He had no idea what kind of twisted karma allowed such conveniences to him, but he wasn't one to philosophise. The Brotherhood of The Five had been reborn (or so it seemed) and he was the only person in town who knew about their legacy – aside from Rebekah, of course.

He practically had the map to the cure in the palm of his hands; The Hunter was strapped up in his living room with – as far as he could tell – no way of escaping. The only thing was hecouldn't see the tattoo. A crying shame, but fortunately Jeremy Gilbert could see it, and Klaus was sure that with some…'persuasion' he would get what he wanted in the end. He always did.

What he wanted to do with the so-called cure; he wasn't quite sure yet. He could always give it to Elena so he could make more hybrids but there was something beautifully poetic about simply destroying it and then murdering every last disrespectful little ant in Mystic Falls.

Apart from Bonnie, of course. She was a diamond in the rough, a queen amongst peasants. All she needed was a push in the right direction. And maybe he could spare Stefan too, if he would stop being so uptight in his morals.

Scratch that, Klaus thought, shaking his head. It was true he was partial to his old friend from the twenties but he knew he could never truly have the witch if her 'epic love' was still hanging around.

Speaking of the Bennett witch…

Klaus grinned unconsciously. The poor girl had practically walked right into his metaphorically open arms. It made everything so much easier. In truth, all he wanted to do was harness her potential. He'd be doing her a _favour. _To tempt her unto the dark side and show her she _literally_ had – or could have – the world at her feet. And of course, get under her skin and pin some loyalty into her so she would never leave his side.

It never hurt to have a witch by your side.

…or writhing in pleasure beneath you – apples, oranges.

Advancing footsteps behind him pulled him from his fantasies and from the scent alone, Klaus knew who was waiting behind him before he turned. "Stefan," he grinned, "Nice to see you up and on your feet again."

"I'm not here for pleasantries, Klaus."

Klaus stepped away from the canvas which was still yet to have any colour on it and set down his paintbrush leisurely, testing Stefan's patience before finally responding. "No I thought not. If you're here to bargain for Bonnie's freedom then I'm afraid you're wasting your time."

"Let me take her place," Stefan offered, trying and failing to hide his desperation.

Klaus laughed to himself quietly. "I don't think so. I spent all summer with you, Stefan, and you weren't exactly the best wingman. I just want to see if your little girlfriend is any better."

Now it was Stefan's turn to laugh. "If you thought I was stubborn believe me when I say Bonnie is on a whole other level. She'll never cooperate with whatever twisted plan it is you have up your sleeve."

"True," Klaus mused, "but even if she doesn't I'm sure you will."

Stefan's interest peaked and he narrowed his eyes at his former brother-from-another-mother. "Excuse me?"

Klaus grinned. "Rebekah and I are in the middle of a minor spat. But call her over and we can tell you everything you need to know about The Five."

"And what makes you think I care about The Five?"

"Trust me Stefan," Klaus said seriously, "it's the key to everything you've ever wanted."

* * *

"How's Stefan doing?" Bonnie finally asked as Damon pulled up the Chevy into Whitmore College's campus.

They had been avoiding _that _particular topic for the whole journey. It hadn't been hard, what with Damon and Elena's constant bickering and the news that Connor was still alive (much to Bonnie's chagrin).

"He's been calling you all day," Damon reminded her, "why don't you ask him yourself?"

Bonnie bit her lip but didn't reply. It would be no use in telling Damon that she couldn't possibly speak to Stefan right now. She doubted he'd have the level of sensitivity to understand the truth.

What was the truth?

The truth was she realised several hours after Stefan was healed, that she would have had no idea what to do with herself if he had actually died. Stefan had grown on her like a rash and no matter how much she scratched at it, told herself she was wrong, she couldn't escape what was developing. He had become her closest friend in this crazy new world and if she could admit to nothing else, she depended on him.

But he scared her. For her, they had been in a relationship (a very one-sided relationship) for a couple weeks. For him, they had been in a relationship for over a year. Whatever he felt must be 365 times stronger than whatever tiny flutter she felt and she didn't _like _the position that put her – or him – in. It made her feel _terrible _for some reason. Every time Stefan said 'I love you' she couldn't say it back. And some of the things he'd mumbled in his sleep last night and during the hallucinations…

Damon rolled his eyes and decided to tell her since she looked so worried. "He was a little confused when he woke up, surprised to be alive, _et cetera. _General brooding, followed by intense brooding after I told him what had happened," he sighed dramatically, "you know the usual."

"Sounds like Stefan," Bonnie mumbled as she looked around at the green grass verges and clean paths. There were students _everywhere; _walking, biking, hanging out. "It's actually kinda nice here."

"Too bad something tells me college isn't in our futures anymore," Elena said bitterly. "Let's just go to the class."

Bonnie nibbled at her lip and followed her friend's lead. But Elena was right: Bonnie wasn't even sure she'd _live _long enough to make the choice of coming to college or not.

* * *

"I don't believe it."

Rebekah blinked harshly to push away the burning feeling in her eyes that came whenever she was in danger of crying. Thinking about Alexander brought back memories and showed weaknesses she'd rather leave buried under layers of sarcasm and bitchiness. "It's true."

"There is no cure for vampirism," Stefan stated again. He couldn't even fathom the thought that after all these years he'd spent torturing himself over his curse, killing innocents because he couldn't control his bloodlust – thinking he was burdened with this for all eternity… there was a _cure? _He shook his head in denial – this had to be a lie.

"He's telling the truth, Stefan," Rebekah repeated as she stood from the dining table.

"Then why wouldn't you have searched for it? Found it?"

"Because," Klaus said, reminding them of his presence from the other side of the grand room, "when the hunters drew their final breath that night," he said, in reference to when he slaughtered the first generation of The Five centuries ago, "the marks disappeared from their body; the map was gone; the brotherhood of The Five extinct...For nine hundred years there was not a whisper of another hunter until our friend in there showed up in town."

Stefan looked in the direction Klaus was pointing; the door to the room which the Hunter was trapped behind. Jeremy Gilbert was in there too, sketching away in order to show everyone what the tattoo looked like.

"Well now we have the map what do we do?" Rebekah sighed.

"_We _don't do anything, little sister. You can't be trusted – you'll go blabbing to the first boy that calls you pretty," Klaus smirked as he took a sip from a glass of whiskey. He turned to Stefan, "You'd think she would have learned by now from the endless years of betrayal."

Rebekah glared at her brother. "But I haven't. Instead I stayed with you and let you leech every _moment _of happiness from my life. You just _use _people, Nik!" she spat. "You want the cure for Elena don't you? So you can go back to mass producing your hybrids. Well Nik, you can stuff your cure."

Stefan watched as Rebekah blinked away more tears and fled from the room. Deep down, he felt sorry for her. After all, it couldn't be easy being related to – he turned to look at Klaus – _that_. He made Damon look like brother of the year. "Well I hope you got what you wanted from her before you chased her off."

"She never would have told me what I needed to know," Klaus said in a matter-of-factly way, "but she'll tell you."

Stefan looked away from Klaus' expectant grin. How did it always come down to this? Klaus managing to bend everyone to his will? "What do you need me to find out?" he finally asked.

"The map is useless without the tool to decipher it."

"…The sword," Stefan realised.

"She knows where it is," Klaus nodded, "and you're going to get her to tell you."

Stefan looked Klaus in the eye but he wasn't so sure about this plan. He'd double-crossed Rebekah one too many times and it wasn't something he was raring to do again.

"You have a chance to give Bonnie all the things you wish you could," Klaus continued, "grow old together; be a father. You will no longer be an abomination to her…" Klaus smiled as he could see he had said exactly what Stefan had needed to hear. "You can call it a deal with the devil if you like…but you know you won't walk away from it."

* * *

"You guys go ahead, I'll catch up," Bonnie said to Damon and Elena after Professor Shane had finished his lecture.

Damon raised his eyebrows and smirked. "Staying behind for a chat with Professor Creepy?"

Bonnie rolled her eyes at him but found herself smiling anyway. She hugged Elena briefly and then hopped down the steps to the front of the room where Shane was organising his papers. Looking over her shoulder, she noticed all the seats were empty now; they were alone.

Shane glanced up as he heard someone approaching and smiled when he saw a petite dark skinned girl approaching. "You must be Bonnie Bennett," he greeted, offering his hand.

She gave a firm handshake. "Nice to meet you, Professor. Thanks for inviting me, that was a great class," she said honestly. It was actually interesting to hear him speak about witches and the supernatural. He seemed like an expert.

"Oh, no problem," Shane said, waving her off. He could barely contain his excitement and relief that this girl was actually alive. It would have put a big kink in his plans if she weren't.

He could tell immediately she was smart, and old for her age. She'd been through a lot, seen a lot, and so wasn't as naïve as your average eighteen year old. However, he knew all the tricks and shortcuts from every culture around the world to gaining someone's unwavering trust.

"How long are you in town for?" he asked.

She shrugged.

"Well, all of Sheila's old stuff I found is actually up in my office…so," he turned and picked up a colourful sheet of paper off the podium, "here is a flyer to a gathering that is happening below my office," he paused and laughed at Bonnie's surprised expression, "don't ask. You should come. Get a taste of college life and I'll pass onto you what I found."

Bonnie took the flyer out of his hands tentatively. "Thanks. I guess I'll, uh, see you later then, maybe."

They said an awkward goodbye and Bonnie left the classroom and took the first exit she saw out of the small building. She spotted Elena and Damon in the distance, and it looked like they were arguing, as usual. At least that was one thing that had remained the same.

"What's going on?" she asked once she'd reached them.

"Nothing," Damon said as he turned to face her. "Elena's educating me on the importance of _feelings,_" he shuddered.

"Did you talk to the Professor?" Elena asked, ignoring Damon.

"For a second. He found some stuff of my Gram's in his office and he said he's gonna dig it up for me," Bonnie smiled. "Oh and uh, this."

She showed Damon and Elena the flyer the professor had handed her.

"Murder House: come as your favourite Victim or Killer," Elena read out loud.

Damon raised his eyebrows. "So what do you wanna go as? Victims or Killers?"

* * *

Damon strode towards the frat house dressed as Jack the Ripper with Bonnie and Elena playing victims at his side. To tell the truth, he was having trouble keeping his eyes forward because Bonnie's legs seemed to go on _forever _in the get up she was wearing.

He shook his head as they approached the entrance. _Focus, Damon._

The moment they entered they were greeted by a college kid with a cocktail in his hand. "Hey! I'm Frankie – unassuming serial killer," he joked, pointing to his casual outfit.

"I'm Jack," Damon said, "and these are the lovely ladies I just…rippered."

Bonnie and Elena gave Damon an unamused look which he shrugged off.

"Welcome to The Murder House," Frankie grinned, "Bloody Mary is free till midnight. Enjoy."

Frankie gave each of them a drink before disappearing off into the crowd.

"Well, hats off to these idiots. Hey, look," Damon pointed to the top of the stairs, "it's Professor Creepy!"

"His name is Professor Shane and he is not creepy," Bonnie told him sternly although she almost laughed. "I'm gonna go talk to him."

"I'll come with you," Damon began as she handed Elena her drink.

"No," Bonnie said quickly, "stay down here and _help _Elena."

Damon pouted and downed his drink as Bonnie pushed up the stairs. "Got it," he said and then turned to Elena, "Let's go find dinner, then."

Bonnie stared fondly at the photograph of herself and her Grams. It had been a long time since she'd seen this photo. For her, it represented simpler times; before she knew she was a witch, when she just thought her Grams was a crazy drunk who loved to tell stories. Before vampires came to town and they all got caught up in supernatural crap.

Bonnie sighed sadly. Her Grams never wanted this.

She wanted her to believe in her heritage and maybe, one day, practice some light magic. Never in her Gram's worst nightmares would she have thought her granddaughter would get caught up with Originals and Dark Magic.

"She was an incredible woman," Shane commented as Bonnie's fingers ran over the glossy finish of the photograph.

"Yeah, she was," Bonnie murmured.

"Do you practice?"

Bonnie looked up at him cautiously.

"Like she did," he added.

"Uh," Bonnie placed the photo in the box they had been putting all the stuff they'd found in, "No. Not anymore," she swallowed, "I lost control and there were consequences."

Shane smiled sadly. "Witches love their consequences, don't they?"

Bonnie glanced up at him, and for a moment, felt like someone was taking the time to understand her. It was true that right now, everyone was…more caring for her…but none of them knew about magic; knew the right things to say. None of them had answers.

Shane was different. He had all this knowledge. He _understood. _Sure, Klaus might like to think he understood, but he was a vampire. None of them understood.

Plus, she doubted Shane was more dangerous than Klaus.

"You know, there are other ways to practice magic," Shane continued, "If you're interested."

Bonnie looked at him curiously. She didn't know this man but he seemed to know a lot. But…there was something _off _about him. "I don't know. I think I'm done with magic…it never ends well."

"But that's the thing," Shane pressed, "there are ways to practice magic without the spirits. I can show you."

"I don't know," Bonnie admitted, "maybe. I'll let you know if I do."

Shane screamed internally but gave nothing away.

"I actually better go back downstairs," Bonnie said, as she suddenly grew uneasy. "My friends are down there."

"Sure," Shane replied, offering her a tight lipped smile.

Bonnie stepped out of the door which Shane had already opened for her and descended carefully down the stairs, made a slightly difficult feat considering the height of her heels.

"Told you he was creepy."

"Gah!" Bonnie shrieked at his sudden appearance. "Jesus-fucking-Christ Damon!"

"Sorry," he amended, "In my defence you're supposed to be psychic."

"Oh ha-ha," Bonnie said sarcastically.

"There is no way that weirdo is teaching you magic," Damon told her as they entered a room where students were bumping and grinding to a bass-heavy song which neither of them knew.

"Like you can tell me what to do?"

Bonnie picked up a drink and began to pump in time with the beat.

"I'm just saying. In my one hundred and sixty plus years I've only ever met one witch who did magic without the spirits and let me tell you, she was batshit crazy."

Damon took the cocktail from Bonnie and took a sip from the sparkly straw and cringed. It was way too sweet and he handed it back.

"You say all witches are crazy, Damon," she reminded him as she closed her eyes and listened to the music, felt the atmosphere, and drank in the moment. The vibrations from the speakers, where ever they were, were pulsing through the floor and up into her body. Bonnie loved music and had been told she was a natural mover. She was sure she could smell weed and the aftertaste of the alcohol from the cocktail lingered in the back of her throat.

College life: she was going to miss missing it.

A foreign hand found its way to rest on her waist and slowly slid down to her hips. Whoever it was made the wise decision to stop there, but then a second hand joined and held her other side and pulled her fast towards them.

She gasped and at the same time her eyes shot open. The first thing she saw was Damon's gunmetal blue orbs surrounded by heavy lidded dark lashes. His cool breath tickled her lips which were tingling desperately for…she didn't want to admit what.

Bonnie took a quick shallow breath and stepped away from him abruptly, realising her actions. "We should be getting back to Mystic Falls," she almost whispered. It didn't matter that the music was so loud; Damon was so close he could hear every word.

His right hand rose up from her side to trace her jawline with his fingertips. For a moment, Damon's face was gentle, his armour down, his heart on his sleeve. His hand dropped and then like a light gone out, his eyes were hard, his jawline set, and any evidence of what he would believe to be weakness was gone.

Damon nodded. "Find Elena. I'll be waiting outside."

Bonnie watched him walk away, wondering what the hell was happening to her.

* * *

After dropping Elena off, Damon finally pulled up his Chevy outside Bonnie's house. All the lights were out so he guessed her father wasn't in.

He looked over to his left at the girl in the passenger seat and sighed silently. He almost laughed; the position she was sleeping in couldn't be comfortable by any stretch of the imagination. But she looked peaceful. For the first time in a long time. And for that, he wished he didn't have to do what he was about to do. He wished he could take her home, pick her up, and place her in his bed, where he could blissfully doze into peace beside her.

Damon straightened his back and slapped himself back into character.

"Wake up, witchy."

Bonnie made a small noise of protest and slumped down even further into the leather upholstery.

"Bonnieeeeee," Damon's voice sang, "unless you want me to carry you inside?"

At that her eyes shot open and she sat up straight. She groaned, stretched and cricked her stiff neck before grabbing the box full of her Gram's old stuff and wiggling out of Damon's car. She bent her legs to peer back into the car to say goodbye to Damon, but to her surprise he had left his seat.

"What are you doing?" he asked from behind her, making her jump.

"Uh," she blinked, "I was gonna say bye?"

Damon stared at her as if she'd grown a second head. "Sure," he said curiously, stretching the word out. "Come on, I'll walk you to your door."

Before she could protest, Damon slammed the car door shut and placed a hand on the small of her back to guide her towards her house.

She opened her mouth to say, 'that really isn't necessary,' but he beat her to it:

"It's called being a gentleman Bennett, take it or leave it."

She pursed her lips tightly but he managed to get a smirk out of her when their eyes met for a moment.

When they reached the thick blue oak door she fumbled around in her bag for her keys. Damn, it was dark.

"Here," Damon said, reaching out to take the box of trinkets "let me hold that for you."

She stilled briefly before nodding and letting him take it. She gulped as she watched _him_ stand there with a box full of her _Grams' _old stuff. Although they were kind of friends now it twisted her insides to think of the part Damon had played in her Grams' death. She shook herself of the memories and looked back down into her bag to search for her keys.

"Need some help?"

Her eyes flicked up to glare at him. "No, I'm fine thank you."

"You sure?" he grinned, "Not like vampires can see perfectly at night time or anything."

Bonnie gritted her teeth and smiled widely when she felt her fingers clasp around the cold jaggedy metal key and the furry fuzz-ball that was her key ring. "Ha!" she said, pulling them out and jingling them in front of his face, "see – found them."

He rose a brow, unimpressed, but then sobered. "How are you feeling?"

She sniffed and pulled at the hairs on her fluffy key ring. It was true that Damon had been a big help in helping to keep her mind off of things today, but that didn't mean she wouldn't rather pretend that their little 'dance' hadn't happened. "Better, I guess," she forced herself to smile shakily and looked up to meet his eyes, "Thanks for today."

"Well…" The corner of his lips quirked upwards. "Thank _you _for inviting me to come."

She smiled and shrugged. "It's cool. And thanks for helping with Elena. I think she really made progress today."

"No kidding," he snorted, "as long as she's not throwing up everywhere and relying on _my _blood, anything I can do."

"So no more blood sharing?"

He narrowed his eyes at her. "You care?"

"No," she said quickly, shuffling her feet, "I could just tell it was taking its toll on her. You know, as you said, it's kind of a…personal thing and, well, you know she still has feelings for you."

Damon gazed down at her from his towering height in comparison. He was doing that annoying _thing _where he stared at you with those _eyes_ until you felt like you had nowhere to hide. She quickly turned away to escape and jammed her key into the door.

"I'll call you when I plan on visiting Stefan," Bonnie said as she stepped inside.

Damon nodded and handed back the box.

"Thanks," she said, ignoring the warmth she felt when his fingers brushed against hers, "see you."

"Bye Bonnie," he said, shoving his hands in his pockets as she closed the door.

As soon as it was shut, and she was alone, she exhaled heavily and pressed her back against the door. She closed her eyes, and simply stood there – for how long she didn't know. But slowly, she felt her body relaxing from its ever constant state of alertness.

Three sharp knocks on the front door made her jump away from it as if it had electrocuted her. And with that, she was suddenly on edge again. She stared at the door for a few seconds as her heartbeat slowly but surely accelerated. Without opening it she already knew who was on the other side.

With a shaky hand, she reached for the handle and pulled the door open; however, as soon as _he_ could see her, she turned on her fearless, icy demeanour.

"I've come to collect."

"Klaus," she started carefully.

"Pack your bags, love," he said seriously, but then a foreboding smile grew on his face, "we're going to Italy."

* * *

**And there you have it. Sorry if this chapter felt to similar to the show :/**

**Also, I noticed over the course of the chapter reviews so far some of you have expressed concern that we don't want Bonnie turning into Elena 2.0. TRUST ME that is not where I am going with this lol. You might see kind of flickers of it because basically, ATM everyone is treating Bonnie like how they treat Elena, and it is affecting her. But no, I am not going to develop her into someone we hate, but I am going to be putting her through somethings that will make her question things and we will see how she comes out the other side.**

**Please please review! I understand updates have been spotty but they really do help in every way possible.**

**That's all, folks.**


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